Do you use Steam on Ubuntu? You may have to switch to a new Linux distro in the future. A Valve developer announced that Steam won't officially support Ubuntu 19.10 or future releases. Ubuntu-based Linux distributions are also affected.Update: In response to "the huge amount of feedback this weekend," Canonical announced plans to continue building 32-bit compatibility packages for Ubuntu 19.10 and 20.04 LTS. Valve now says Steam will "likely" support Ubuntu 19.10.This is all because Canonical announced plans to drop 32-bit packages and libraries from Ubuntu 19.10. These packages enable 32-bit software to run on 64-bit versions of Ubuntu.While most Linux applications will get along just fine, this is a huge blow to Valve's Steam. Many Linux games on Steam are only available in 32-bit form---they work on 64-bit Linux distributions, but only with the 32-bit libraries. As Phoronix recently pointed out, this also affects the Wine compatibility layer that allows running Windows software on Linux---Wine won't be able to run 32-bit Windows software anymore. Steam's compatibility layer for running Windows games on Linux would also not work for 32-bit games.After Canonical's announcement, Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais tweeted that Ubuntu 19.10 and future releases "will not be officially supported by Steam or recommended to our users." Valve will officially support and recommend a different Linux distribution in the future.

The good news is that your existing Ubuntu installation---whether it's Ubuntu 19.04 "Disco Dingo" or Ubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver"---will continue running Steam and its Linux games for years to come.

The bad news is that Linux gamers who enjoy Ubuntu will likely have to switch to a different Linux distribution in the future---unless Canonical or Valve change course.