Incredibly happy to see the option, but I ain’t gonna run that shit.
The same EA that was recently sold to and is now part-owned by an investment firm owned by Jared Kushner and with ties to Donald Trump? Yeah, that’s not getting kernel access to any of my systems.
No thanks EA. You’re on my never buy list.
I’m still not gonna buy games with anti-cheat, EA.
Friendly reminder that kernel-level anti-cheat can and will be circumvented.
Any game fairness improvement that it provides will be temporary, but whatever malware it allows onto your system (either deliberately or through bugs exploited by third parties) will likely last until you reinstall the whole OS. Depending on the type of malware, it could even persist for the life of the hardware.
Hopefully, Linux developers will create a tool to blacklist DRMed products from being installed. I don’t want to unwittingly install Enigma, Denuvo, Easy Anti-Cheat, and other foul things onto my machine.
Nah, keep that shit off my PC. If i cant play a game due to not having a proprietary backdoor installed then im fine playing other games i can.
Ew. Do not want.
Look, I don’t enjoy EA, they’ve killed several of my franchises, but what we shouldn’t do is demonize them for attempting to migrate to Linux. If a huge gaming company is taking Linux seriously it’s something we should celebrate. It means we’re making an impact
I don’t think that people are demonizing them for attempting to migrate to Linux.
I’m pretty sure (because of my own reaction to this news, as well as the other comments) that it’s to do with people’s dislike of kernel-level anti-cheat and EA’s attempt to bring that to Linux.
Which also doesn’t make sense to me, we already have a few anti-cheats on Linux
Yes, I’m sure we do, but while things like Battleye and Easy Anti-cheat, and so on do work on Linux to an extent, but they don’t really have access to the Linux kernel.
I’m willing to celebrate… if it’s a net positive in the end. Linux gamers being able to play big titles, or game with Windows-using friends is good. Having to run DRM/adware/rootkit “anti-cheat”, subscriptions and dark patterns is very bad.
My outlook on the modern games industry is very low overall and I don’t see how to fix it. If I could do anything I’d instead promote and invest into “open source” games (sofeware freedom respecting games).
That would all depend on both the Linux kernel accepting that to the upstream (which, let’s remember crowdstrike), and each distro not removing it. I sincerely doubt that is what this role is. This role is much more likely how to make anti cheat work in linux somehow without kernel access.
They aren’t being demonized for ‘taking Linux seriously.’ They are being demonized for the horns, forked tongue, spade-tipped tail, ichorous blood, and subservience to satan that are everything they have done before now. When the guy who moved in at No.1 and raped their daughter, then moved in at No.3 and raped their daughter, and then did it again at No.5 is showing up at your house at No.7, it might be called ‘great news’ that someone is finally interested in finally renting out that room you’ve had available for the last several years, but if you let them in, they’re just going to rape your daughter. It’s what they do.
Absolutely. Valve took Linux seriously and it’s helped Linux gaming immensely. But you can argue a few things - Valve are private and can still do what they want without an obligation to shareholders. Linux gives them better control of the software on their own devices, so they can tailor the experience exactly how they want. Investing in proton made it so people are willing to buy and use these devices, as the game library becomes nearly identical to windows.
A company like EA, a monolith at this point and historically one of the most profit driven, greedy, arguably scummy companies in gaming, if they’re investing in Linux support that means they see dollars and other companies will follow suit. They’re specifically looking at their anti cheat software according to this picture which would bring in their competitive shooters, the type of game that is largely missing on Linux.
If their anti cheat supports Linux, others like Easy anti cheat may push to support Linux, and developers like facepunch have even less of a leg to stand on when it comes to ignoring Linux. Unless EA does something like “You must be using our new EA Linux distro for our anti cheat to work” I can’t see this being a bad thing.
Absolutely!
And the focus on ARM caught me off-guard too, I wonder if they’re looking out for future handhelds being ARM or what.Exactly! This is exactly what we want, more big players on linux.
Of course the kernel level anti-cheat is another thing that needs to be addressed, but a big company acknowledgig the importance of linux is a huge victory to me.
Speak for yourself. I’d rather shit companies no matter how big or small not be a part of the Linux ecosystem. Do I want development absolutely but not at the sacrifice of core values. EA is a shit company. Full Stop. They have nothing good to provide.
But you can still choose to not interact with their software. What’s the problem?
The kernel is the brains of the any Linux OS. It has access to every aspect of your system. Which is why they (EA) wants access. I would like to think you wouldn’t put a device in your brain to have some 3rd party to monitor your entire body for bad actors.
Having this level of access to your system would allow them to see all the processes and files, scan them and create a fingerprint that’s linked to your account. With the levels of violations that all governments are conducting in our lives it would be a small feat for EA to divulge this fingerprint for not only their own profits, directed ads and marketing, but anyone who would ask including government entities.
That is only one level. One other aspect is performance hits. Adding this kernel level monitoring will also take clock cycles away from your real needs. Slowing down and interrupting the functions of your system potentially breaking things. This along with adding attack vectors for other nefarious actors to penetrate your system and take full control.
You are correct I do have a choice not to use their poorly implemented code. And I definitely will never use it. The final point I will add is if this were to happen it becomes a slippery slope for other companies to add their own kennel level “security” code. All you have to do is look at any other system. Next thing you know the last light of OS freedom will be extinguished.
If you need kernel access because you don’t trust me not to cheat, I don’t really want to play your game.
Kernel access isn’t needed if they use signed boot and can verify everything running is what it should be.
but don’t you need kernel access to verify everything that is running
You want to be sure if the integrity of the binaries that are running. That needs a chain of trust from firmware to user space.
Why care about the binaries when you can have AI write you a script for an ESP32 to scan a video camera and mimic hardware mouse inputs?
‘Never trust the client’, an adage that modern game developers have apparently forgotten. The only thing one can ultimately trust is the server. Anything client-side, beyond keeping honest people honest, is doomed to failure.
Regular (ie, not kernel-level) anti-cheat is as far as it needs to go. Anything delving past that, such as into kernels, is dumb and an increasing level of security risk for the consumer.
Kernel level AC only makes sense if you’re not selling games, you’re selling platforms for micro transactions.
They don’t give a fuck about a ‘true’ gameplay experience.
They do give a fuck about not being able to groom children into gambling addictions later in life, and making astounding amounts of money while doing so.
Signed by who?
IM A KERNEL PLAYING A KERNEL DISGUISED AS ANOTHER KERNEL
Signed by EA, of course
The chain of trust will depend on the hardware. I would expect on a Steam Deck it would be Valve all the way. If it was Ubuntu it would be Microsoft then Canonical. I doubt any random distro would be acceptable to the games wanting to enforce anti cheat.
You can secure boot most distros these days. It’s not new either. Depends on who it what their anchor is, and if it’s more limited than just secure boot being active.
Yes!! They could just do holistic anti-cheat data analysis instead.
Blame the cheaters.
I mean, I also don’t care about cheaters because I’m not a competitive gamer. So this isn’t for me, anyway. Games should be fun and relaxing, and if you’re playing for money, then it should be on the people selling the product to monitor player behavior, the way any other pro sports league does.
I used to be a competitive gamer, but I didn’t care about cheaters either because…well, just because someone has cheats doesn’t mean they’re good at the game. For the most part I could tell when someone was cheating, but I could still out-gun the cheat and win.
Not everyone can do that of course, but it’s fun to see people cheat and still lose.
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This looks like primarily Windows on AArch64 then maybe Linux support later.
I’d be more interested in Linux IntelX86-Amd64 support for stuff like the SteamDeck. Windows on Arm is borderline non-existent
Um, yay? 🤢
Lol, LMAO even.
It’s so sweet of them to think that I don’t play their games because I play on linux and not because I want EA software in my computer as much as I want to drink a shot of arsenic.
What’s a good alternative to their sports games, like EA FC 25 which I’ve been playing a lot recently?
Literally the exact same game every year, just play the older one.
It’s the only version of that game I have, so the question remains whether there’s any alternative that isn’t by EA at all.
Old FIFAs and PESs are playable by emulating consoles. Some of them have mods for modern players.
Sensible Soccer.
This is why monopolies on teams and player likenesses for games is a bad thing.
Yes. I’m super pleased that EA appears to be doing the right thing, here.
Absent everything thing else EA does and stands for, I would applaud this move by buying something from them sometime.
That said, I will continue to abstain from EA games for another few decades. I like the “sense of pride and accomplishment” it gives me.
Apex Legends. The game was working on Linux before they they took it away. On https://areweanticheatyet.com/ I see it uses Easy Anti Cheat and Hyperion. No word on Javelin. So looks like games using Hyperion wouldn’t still be supported? The list of Javelin games on https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/EA_Javelin shows that I am not much interested into those games. It’s for the most part Battlefield and sports games. Well maybe I could try out Battlefield 6 someday, that is probably best game from this list.
No need for the effort. I won’t buy any EA game ever.
