Lepton branding confirmed in Steam files
Valve has been a big proponent of Linux gaming, and now the company is investing in Android support on Linux. It’s already possible to run Android in a Linux container through Waydroid, but Valve has developed a new fork – and it has officially named it Lepton.
Last month, news broke that Valve would soon support Android games on Steam. This was thanks to a sighting in Steam app changelogs for Walkabout Mini Golf, which added an APK file. The VR title is currently available on the Meta Quest (which runs on a custom version of Android), and may run through the Lepton compatibility layer for Valve’s upcoming Steam Frame VR headset, which runs the company’s Linux-based operating system, SteamOS.
The new software can be seen in the SteamDB documentation, which includes the new ‘Lepton’ name and logo, which takes some obvious inspiration from Waydroid. You can also find an entry for ‘Lepton Development’ on the Steam store here.
If you’re familiar with Valve’s work with Linux, you may be aware of Proton. Proton is a fork of Wine and a compatibility layer for running Windows apps (primarily games) on Linux. So, the same idea applies to Lepton, only for Android rather than Windows, developed as a fork of Waydroid.
Proton has been a massively successful project for Valve, and probably the biggest reason why Linux is getting more popular on Steam. Obviously, the Steam Deck is the main reason hardware-wise, but it wouldn’t be where it is today without Proton. With the continued development of SteamOS and Proton being encouraged by the success of the handheld (and ideally the upcoming Steam Machine), it appears that Valve plans to do something similar with the Steam Frame, giving players access to Android games that are currently locked within the Meta Quest ecosystem.
