The team behind the Heroic Games Launcher is working on a project called “Xodus” - a native way to run Xbox PC games, including Game Pass titles, on Linux, macOS, and the Steam Deck.
Xodus is an open-source reverse-engineering project with the tagline “Linux is Xbox PC too”. It is not an official Microsoft initiative, but an independent community effort.
According to the developers, Microsoft account login already works, along with license retrieval and downloading and decrypting Microsoft’s encrypted MSIXVC packages via the terminal. The biggest remaining hurdle is actually launching games: this requires emulating the Xbox Gaming Runtime through a customized version of Wine, with DXVK and VKD3D-Proton handling the graphics pipeline. The focus is on modern Game Pass titles using the new GDK framework rather than older UWP games.
Xodus is an open-source reverse-engineering initiative dedicated to enabling Xbox PC games, including GamePass titles, to run on Linux and macOS systems. This effort is independent and not endorsed by Microsoft.
- xodus: Core authentication, token exchange, downloads, licenses (Rust)
- xgameruntime: Open-source implementation of xgameruntime.dll (C)
- wine: ValveSoftware/wine fork with Xodus integration patches
- Proton: ValveSoftware/Proton fork bundling patched Wine
If successful, Game Pass subscribers could eventually install and run their games locally on Steam Deck, Mac, and Linux - currently only cloud gaming via browser is available on these platforms. How Microsoft will respond to the project remains unclear.
Source: GitHub