Facepunch Studios' COO Alistair McFarlane stated that Rust will not be released on Linux and will not be compatible with Valve's Proton.
We have no plans to run the game on Proton and Linux. There are too many cheaters on these platforms, and anti-cheat is difficult for us and EAC to maintain due to the small audience. After the termination of Linux support, there turned out to be more cheaters than real players.
He added that supporting Proton or Linux makes it harder to fight cheaters if the studio doesn't have a full anti-cheat team. Similarly, Apex Legends dropped Proton in October 2024 for the same reasons.
McFarlane noted that Linux gamers make up less than 0.01% of the audience, so expanding the platform would not bring significant benefits.
The decision highlights Valve's difficulties with anti-cheat on SteamOS and may limit the appeal of Steam Machine compared to Windows alternatives.
