A designer at Valve has revealed that at least one developer associated with the company is working on HDR for Linux games. [Joshua Ashton, who works on key technologies like DXVK and VKD3D-Proton, is apparently getting HDR working properly. The development was mentioned by Steam Deck developer Pierre-Loup Griffais via Twitter (opens in new tab), where he showed off both Halo Infinite and Deep Rock Galactic.

I find it extraordinarily spicy to play Microsoft's flagship series on a Linux machine. There is something deliciously heretical about it.

For avid Steam Deck (open in new tab) watchers eager to read the tea leaves of Valve's new hardware development, this milestone seems significant. This announcement may give some hope to the idea that the next Steam Deck will ship with a powerful, bright OLED screen with HDR support.

At this point it is just wishful thinking, and of course the OLED Deck would not have to support HDR, but at least the possibility exists. Also, if developers can get HDR to work smoothly on Linux, Valve would be eager to support HDR in future Decks.

Valve hinted just last month (open in new tab) that it wants better battery life and better screens in the revised Steam Deck. (A screen that pushes HDR levels of brightness would do nothing but worsen battery life.) Either way, cool development.

Joshua Ashton, the developer of HDR on Linux, is one of many independent contractors (open in new tab) doing open source development for Valve, much of which is fed back into the open source ecosystem and used to support the larger Linux environment used to support it. Ashton posted a tweet showing off a heat map displaying the difference in brightness that HDR brings.

I am an HDR enthusiast myself, and the increased graphics depth and fidelity is an exciting prospect for any gaming rig running on Linux. It might be worth seeing the last generation of OLED monitors launched at CES 2023 this weekend.

In any case, it's great to see Valve not sitting on its laurels instead of developing the software that underlies the great success of its hardware division. After all, the Steam Deck was the most innovative piece of hardware we saw last year. (Open in new tab) [17]