According to Gizmodo, Valve is working on an open-source emulator called Fex to let you play your Steam games natively on any device, including smartphones, without relying on streaming. The project started over seven years ago, with Valve software engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais telling The Verge the effort involved a slew of indie developers. This strategy directly contrasts with Microsoft’s “Xbox Everywhere” push, which recently saw Game Pass Ultimate’s price hike from $20 to $30. Valve’s goal is to expand Steam’s reach to more platforms, and it recently showed off the Steam Frame VR headset, which uses a mobile-focused Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 ARM chip and will use Fex to run Steam games. The emulator is built with Steam in mind, supporting Linux and Vulkan, and while it’s designed for Linux, tinkerers are already using versions to emulate PC games on Android.
Fex vs. Streaming: The Philosophy War
Here’s the thing: Microsoft and Valve want the same end result—your money in their ecosystem—but they have completely opposite ideas on how to get there. Microsoft’s vision is all about the cloud. You stream the game from a powerful server to your dinky phone or TV. It’s convenient, sure, but it’s entirely at the mercy of your internet connection. Valve’s vision, powered by Fex, is about local execution. The game runs right on your device, just like it would on your PC, but it’s being translated on the fly for a different type of processor. One requires a great internet pipe; the other requires a decent chip and some clever software. In a world where gaming hardware is getting more expensive, both approaches have appeal. But Valve’s play feels more… permanent. It’s giving you a copy of the game, not just a temporary view of one.
How Fex Works (And Why It’s Hard)
So what is Fex, technically? It’s an emulator, which is different from the compatibility layer (Proton) that made the Steam Deck such a hit. Proton lets Windows games run on Linux by translating their system calls. Fex is doing something heavier: it’s emulating the actual x86 chip architecture that PC games are built for, so they can run on devices using ARM chips, like your phone or a Snapdragon X laptop. That requires more processing power because you’re basically running a software simulation of a whole PC CPU. Valve promises the performance hit “shouldn’t be too bad,” but that’s the big question, especially on lower-end mobile hardware. It’s a tough engineering challenge, which is why it’s taken seven years of work from Valve and indie devs like Ryan H, who was trusted with designing the project’s long-term framework. You can see the project’s progress on its GitHub page or read about its anniversary here.
The Qualcomm Wildcard and an Open Future
Now, there’s a huge elephant in the room: Qualcomm. They’re pushing hard into PCs with Snapdragon X chips and have their own solution for compatibility—an updated version of Microsoft’s Prism emulator. They’ve essentially told Gizmodo they haven’t even considered Fex for their next-gen chips. So we might be heading for a format war: Microsoft/Qualcomm’s built-in emulator vs. Valve’s open-source one. But here’s where Valve’s strategy is kind of genius. Because Fex is open source, it doesn’t need Qualcomm’s blessing. The community can port it. We’re already seeing early versions run on Android through projects like GameHub Lite and GameNative. Valve just sits back and watches as its storefront potential expands to every device under the sun. It’s all gravy for them, as the article says. For a deeper dive into how it works, the Fex Wiki FAQ has details, and you can see community testing on social media.
The Long Game: Look at Proton
We should have seen this coming. Valve plays the long, slow, open-source game. Look at Proton. It launched seven years ago, was ignored by most, and then suddenly became the bedrock of the Steam Deck, to the point where some games now run better on SteamOS than Windows. Fex is on the exact same trajectory. It will take time to iron out the kinks. You probably won’t see SteamOS on your phone tomorrow. But the pieces are falling into place: more ARM devices, cheaper handhelds, and a relentless push for platform agnosticism. In a pricing crunch where consoles and PCs are getting more expensive, the idea of playing your existing Steam library natively on a lightweight, affordable device is incredibly compelling. Microsoft’s streaming has its place, but Valve is betting on a future where you own the computation, not just the stream. And honestly, that’s a future I find a lot more interesting.
