League of Legends likely unplayable on Linux / Steam Deck soon due to Vanguard anti-cheat

If Linux based handhelds keep getting more popular for gaming, to the point where they represent 5 or 10% or even more of the PC gaming market share, I feel like incompatible anticheats could spell the death of some games when competitors come up that are compatible with the platform.

I don't expect league of legends to die as a result of this and only this but surely it's a possibility. From the time I used to play league, I never really seemed to encounter any cheaters (or at least not enough to notice it) over hundreds of hours played. I really don't see the value proposition to adding it, where I can understand it more in a FPS/TPS.

Of course it's just as likely, if not more so, that the deck and similar platforms are just a phase, or that a windows based handheld takes the market by storm.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

A day we expected to come but now Riot Games have formally announced that their Vanguard kernel-level anti-cheat is coming to League of Legends, and so it will make it unplayable on Linux.

This news was confirmed in their recent developer video below at about 12:43, mentioning it will happen in either late February or early March:

Speaking on Reddit, one of their team mentioned "We'll get some more info about Linux for you all soon, it's not something i know the answer to off the top of my head and I want to make sure I talk with the team and get you the right info.

", and in a previous comment they mentioned Vanguard won't be used in the macOS version.

However, a different Riot staff member seemed to make it clear Linux support won't be happening in reply to a user asking about playing it in Wine: "No unfortunately not.

From a security point of view supporting WINE would be like having a bank vault at the top of Nakatomi Tower then installing a doggy door in it.

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