Valve is working on a "Lepton" Android compatibility layer for Linux and VR — Could we ever see Android games running on the Steam Deck and its Steam Machine PC?

PC gaming giant Valve appears to be expanding its gaming software portfolio, currently building an Android compatibility layer called Lepton (via Gaming on Linux). Proof of its official name is slim, but an official Steam store page reveals its froggy logo, and SteamDB hints at its potential origins as a fork of Waydroid.

Waydroid already offers to run an Android system inside Linux, not too dissimilar to how WSL runs Linux in Windows. The creators of our beloved Steam Deck undoubtedly learned a lot from their efforts with SteamOS and Proton, a sort of in-between code translator that allows Windows PC games to run on Linux, so this is at least on-brand.

That, and we already knew that its upcoming Steam Frame VR headset will use a Snapdragon processor built by Qualcomm, so this isn't totally unexpected. Lepton will presumably allow users to run Android apps in virtual reality when the previously codenamed 'Deckard' headset launches, but it isn't too far-fetched to imagine a future where Android games are running on something like the upcoming Steam Machine desktop PC.

Besides, references to 'androidarm64' were added to Valve's Steamworks SDK a few weeks ago (via Gaming on Linux), alongside not-so-subtle hints from Brad Lynch on X that Walkabout Minigolf would be the first Android game appearing on the Steam Frame in VR. 'linuxarm64' is in there, too, related to the ARM64 Snapdragon SoC used in Valve's headset. Neat, but what about the gamers who aren't interested in virtual reality?

So far, there's barely anything more than vaporware to suggest that more AAA-like Android games might make their way to desktop PCs or SteamOS handhelds. At the very least, the foundations of Waydroid allow for this sort of thing to happen in a standard OS environment, but the demand also needs to be there.

Could you name a blockbuster Android game off the top of your head? I couldn't — and that's probably a significant factor in whether Valve would spend its resources making it happen.

This might be just a VR thing for now, especially since touchscreen games would presumably translate far better to that virtual environment than they ever would with traditional controllers. On the other hand, plenty of mobile games have added support for traditional controllers and clip-on joypads. Valve already made staggering progress in making Windows games run well (and sometimes even better) on Linux, so who knows?

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