Can you still play For Honor on Steam Deck?

Only until 10 September 2026. On that date Ubisoft disables Easy Anti-Cheat's Linux runtime, and the game stops launching under SteamOS and Proton. The only way to keep playing on the hardware afterwards is a full Windows installation on the Deck, which costs you SteamOS features like suspend and resume.

Why is For Honor dropping Linux support?

Ubisoft says it cannot meaningfully deploy anti-cheat protection on Linux, and is removing the platform to keep the competitive environment safer. The change is tied to the launch of Ranked play. The studio has said it may reopen the platform if its anti-cheat improves, but has given no date.

When does For Honor Ranked Season 0 start?

Ranked Dominion and Ranked Duel go live on 10 September 2026. Season 0 is treated as a calibration season, so Ubisoft expects to adjust it based on feedback. Crossplay is enabled across supported platforms.

Is For Honor still playable on PS5 and Xbox?

Yes. The change only affects Linux-based systems, which includes Steam Deck and Steam Machine. Windows PCs on Steam and Ubisoft Connect, PlayStation and Xbox all keep working, and no shutdown has been announced for any of them.

Can I refund For Honor if I only play it on Steam Deck?

Steam's automatic refund covers purchases under two hours of playtime made within the last 14 days. A nine-year-old game you have already played will fall outside that, so you would need to open a support request and explain the platform change. Approval is at Valve's discretion.

For Honor Blocks Steam Deck and Linux at Ranked Launch

What happens to For Honor on Steam Deck

For Honor has been playable on Deck through Proton because Easy Anti-Cheat shipped with its Linux runtime enabled. Ubisoft is turning that runtime off. Once it is gone, the anti-cheat handshake fails before the match server is reached, so the game will not boot rather than kicking you mid-fight.

That covers more than Valve's handheld. Steam Deck, Steam Machine, and any desktop Linux install running the game through Proton all lose access at the same moment. There is no separate Linux build to fall back on, because there never was one.

The workaround is the awkward one: a full Windows installation on the Deck's internal drive or a microSD card. Easy Anti-Cheat works normally there, at the cost of battery life, suspend and resume, and the SteamOS interface. Anyone who bought the game specifically to play it on a handheld is inside Steam's standard refund window only if they are under two hours of playtime and within 14 days of purchase; past that, it is a support ticket rather than an automatic refund.

Why Ubisoft is doing it

The Ranked FAQ gives the reason directly: the game is being removed from the Linux platform to ensure a safer environment for players, because the studio cannot meaningfully deploy protection there. Ubisoft also says it will keep investigating anti-cheat approaches, with the possibility of reopening the platform later. Nothing about that is a commitment, and no timeline is attached to it.

The timing is not a coincidence. Ranked is the first For Honor mode where a cheated match costs someone a placement rather than a casual loss, and Linux clients are the hardest surface for kernel-level anti-cheat to inspect. Ubisoft has made the same trade in other titles. It is the choice publishers keep making, and it is the reason Steam Deck compatibility for competitive multiplayer games has quietly become the least reliable part of the platform.

What Ranked Season 0 actually adds

Season 0 is the launch season, described by Ubisoft as a calibration period for the competitive experience. Two modes go live on 10 September:

Ranked Dominion — four-versus-four objective play across a ten-map rotation, with parties capped at two players who must be within 10 divisions of each other.
Ranked Duel — one-versus-one.
Seven tiers — Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master and Grandmaster. The first five each hold five divisions; Master and Grandmaster run on point-based leaderboards, with Grandmaster limited to the top 100 players.
No placement matches — everyone starts at Bronze 5 and climbs on Rank Points, with a bonus after three consecutive wins.
Different rules to casual play — a single-pick system means one hero per team, parry flash indicators are off, and gear perks are disabled.
Rewards — ornaments at each rank, an exclusive armour set at Gold and a weapon at Diamond, all handed out in the title update after the season ends.

Crossplay is on, so the Linux block does not fragment the queue in the way a platform-locked mode would. It just removes one set of clients from it.

Which platforms are unaffected

For Honor continues on Windows through Steam and Ubisoft Connect, on PlayStation, and on Xbox, with no shutdown announced for any of them. The game still holds several thousand concurrent Steam players nine years after launch, and Ubisoft has not said what share of those sit on Linux. Historically that number is small, which is exactly why publishers find the decision easy to make.

If you follow Ubisoft's patch cadence, we also covered the Black Flag Resynced 1.0.7 update and its download sizes. For a comparison of how another live shooter is handling its September fixes, see the Battlefield 6 update 1.4.2.5 patch notes. And if a Deck is not the only handheld you are weighing up, Anbernic's RG SP clamshell handheld takes a very different approach to portable play, while our guide to the best Android emulators for PC, Mac and Linux covers what still runs well on a Linux desktop.