EA posts a job listing hinting at possible Linux and Proton support for their Javelin anticheat
Electronic Arts (EA) has recently posted a job listing looking for a Senior Anti Cheat Engineer, and some of the points listed as a part of the job could interest those in the Linux space.
In this recent job listing, EA is looking for an engineer who has experience in both Windows and ARM environment for anti-cheat development, with several years of experience under their belt, but for the people outside of that scope, the listing could hint at a potential move from EA to bring support for their anti-cheat to even more systems that weren't supported before.
The anti-cheat position would require the following activities from the future contracted employee:
- Develop a native ARM driver for EA Javelin Anticheat, porting existing functionality to work on ARM
- Develop support for loading different versions of EA Javelin Anticheat based on user hardware
- Implement build and test pipelines for automated validation of EA Javelin Anticheat on ARM hardware
- Design and solve for new security threats on ARM devices
- Chart a path for EA Javelin Anticheat to support additional OS and hardware in the future, such as Linux and Proton.
The last point is even more interesting, as it specifically mentions plans for bringing support for the Javelin anticheat to other OS and hardware like Linux and Proton. This means that in the future players running Steam OS or even any kind of Linux distribution might be able to enjoy EA's games without having to rely on a dual boot installation of Windows just for specific multiplayer and online-only titles, like Battlefield, FIFA or F1.
Most of the currently (if not the only) modern unsupported titles on Steam when using Steam OS could be narrowed down to anti-cheat not being compatible through Proton, as is the case with games like Battlefield, Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends, Call of Duty, Fortnite, and many others. In these cases, the fact that those games remain unsupported is due to the fact that the developers themselves do not enable Proton support for the game's anticheat -- and in some cases is just a matter of the dev enabling the support for the games, since other games that use the same anti-cheat as some of the big multiplayer games do work under Steam OS / Proton.
While this job listing could hint at a plan way ahead in the future for EA, it's important to note that some of the big gaming companies are starting to eye Linux as an interesting and profitable option for those that don't want to rely on Windows, more so with the doubtful decisions and developments Microsoft has been doing over the past few months.
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) there's absolutely nothing wrong with this. Whether this makes me buy their crappy games then, even if I finally had the choice, is another question, though, obviously. However, you will never hear me complain if publishers are finally taking note of the Linux gaming community. Having more choices is obviously always great 
