Is EA Sports FC 25 Steam Deck compatible? New year, same story for football fans who want to enjoy EA’s latest game on the Steam Deck. The decision to use an anti-cheat for online play is understandable, but it continues to exclude players on Linux-based systems.
While the Steam Deck still has our vote as the best handheld gaming PC, its Linux-based SteamOS is undoubtedly an issue when it comes to competitive online games and anti-cheat systems. Some work fine with Linux, but most don’t, and it leads to situations where games are sometimes stripped of content, just like with GTA 5 on Steam Deck after the recent introduction of BattlEye.
IS EA Sports FC 25 Steam Deck compatible?
EA Sports FC 25 is yet to receive an official Steam Deck rating, but due to the implementation of an anti-cheat system incompatible with Linux, the game is inaccessible, which will lead to a rating of ‘Unsupported’.
This same issue has impacted the last two games in the series, FIFA 23 and EA Sports FC 24. EA uses a proprietary anti-cheat simply called EA Anti-Cheat (EAC) and it is not currently compatible with Linux systems.
If you dual boot your Steam Deck and use Windows, there is no reason EA FC 25 and its online modes shouldn’t run just fine given that the EA FC 25 system requirements are very low, in fact, they haven’t changed at all from last year’s game.
Other handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go will also run EA Sports FC 25 just fine as they are both Windows-based devices. Despite repeated calls for EA to reconsider its current anti-cheat solution, there appears to be no sign of an impending change.
The lack of Linux handheld support will be disappointing news to many, but if you need inspiration for what to play next, check out our picks for the best Steam Deck games. Also, if you are going to be jumping into the latest football game on PC, you can check out the FC 25 soundtrack to see what bangers are on the playlist this year.