Valve’s Proton 11 Beta Advances ARM Gaming Handhelds

Valve’s Proton 11.0 Beta1 release has added fresh momentum to ARM-based PC gaming. Community developers have already demonstrated Steam running on multiple Qualcomm-powered handhelds. The update introduced “FEX-2604 for ARM64EC builds,” indicating Proton now includes a key x86-to-ARM translation layer.

Valve has not formally announced an ARM64 edition of Proton yet.

However, the change is widely viewed as groundwork for ARM-based Linux gaming hardware. Industry attention is also focused on the rumored Steam Frame VR headset, which has been linked to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Rocknix, a Linux distribution originally designed for retro handhelds, added Steam support last week for the following devices:

• Retroid Pocket 6
• Ayn Odin 2
• Konkr Pocket Fit
• Ayaneo Pocket S2

Valve’s Proton 11 ARM Beta Delivers Early Handheld Gaming Results

Testing and reviewing YouTuber, ETA Prime, tested the software stack on the Ayn Odin 2 Portal, powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. He also tested the Konkr Pocket Fit, and the Ayaneo Pocket S2, and both are equipped with Snapdragon G3 Gen 3 chips.

After installing Rocknix to internal storage, the Ayn Odin 2 Portal reportedly ran the Steam client as a native ARM Linux application. Games still relied on Proton and FEX translation, but lighter titles posted strong results.

Meanwhile, Hollow Knight: Silksong ran above 100 frames per second (FPS) on the device’s 120 Hz display with the frame cap disabled. Cuphead operated between 60 and 70 FPS, while Half-Life 2 exceeded 120 FPS.

The Ayaneo Pocket S2 and Konkr Pocket Fit used microSD installations because internal storage support is not yet fully available. This resulted in slower download and installation speeds.

However, testing also revealed limitations.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt did not relaunch after its first session on the Ayn Odin 2 Portal. Half-Life 2 required a USB keyboard and mouse because controller bindings failed, while random crashes and black screens were reported.

Altogether, Kernel-level anti-cheat support on ARM remains unresolved, leaving the platform in an early enthusiast phase rather than a direct Steam Deck alternative.