Other than Bazzite and POP the rest pretty niece and dated Ubuntu game spin is it 2005?. No Nobara or CachyOS either, me thinks the writer doesn't know their stuff.
this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2025
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I'd argue most optimizations are negligible. Just install any distro and the necessary drivers and software and you're good to go.
I did a kernel benchmark once and the improvement of FPS are within margin of error.
I'm inclined to agree about the performance optimizations between various distros being negligible, but there might still be room for more distros to optimize for compatibility.
The following is highly anecdotal and vibes-based. Please don't take my vague examples literally:
Between my Steam Deck (SteamOS) and Framework 16 (Bazzite), the Framework is obviously way more powerful, but I have a more flawless experience with some games on the Steam Deck in terms of 100% of the games I launch "just work"ing on there. With Bazzite on my Framework, it feels close to 100%, but every so often, I encounter a new demo or game that is finnicky about launching.
Idk if it's gamescope, the specialized hardware, or something else doing the heavy lifting for the Steam Deck (it's probably a mix of things), but I would love to see other Linux distros incorporate the software components to make gaming flawless on generic distros. It's really close, but I think there's room for growth to catch up with whatever the Steam Deck is doing.
And this is not me saying "wait for SteamOS to switch to Linux". You can easily install Steam on any distro and enjoy like 90% of the games on there with no fuss.
What? SteamOS is (Arch) Linux.
Based on Arch is different from is Arch. Ubuntu isn't Debian. ChromeOS isn't Gentoo. They are different things. Don't oversimplify things to the point of absurdity.
Haha, point of absurdity, c'mon. SteamOS is Linux, period.
Sure. In the same way that ChromeOS and Android are Linux. There are no important distinctions to be made at all. Everything that works on one of them, will work on all of them because they're just Linux.
/s, because that is obviously not true.
I agree, just use the distro that clicks for you. I've been gaming on good ol' Debian for a few years now. I tried most of the other recommended distros but always return to Debian.
Did an AI write these bullshit ramblings just parroting PR fluff texts provided by those distros?
It's ZDNet, so, probably. CNET and others have, so why not the once-popular shell of itself, ZDNet, too?
It would have been quite the surprise if they had 6 recommendations but their favorite was not amongst them.
Just pick your favourite distro and that will be your gaming distro as well.
The devs of DraugerOS don't recommend it to use it other than gaming.
This list couldn't even give proper gaming distros other than Bazzite. PopOS is not a gaming distro, it's just a distro you can game on. Like almost every distro out there.
Why is ZDNet like this?
[Bazzite] includes a proprietary driver for GeForce GUPs
The heck?!