Heroic Launcher Developers Launch 'Xodus' Project to Bring Xbox PC Games to Linux

Addressing Xbox PC Game Incompatibility on Linux

Xbox PC games, distributed via the Xbox app, do not function on Linux due to Microsoft's proprietary Game Development Kit (GDK) runtime environment. This incompatibility also affects Game Pass titles, despite Microsoft supporting cloud streaming for them. The new open-source project, Xodus, initiated by the developers of Heroic Launcher, seeks to resolve this by reverse-engineering and emulating the necessary components for Xbox PC games on Linux.

Focus on Modern GDK Titles

Xodus primarily targets modern, GDK-based Xbox PC titles and their MSIXVC packages, rather than older UWP-based releases. The core issue is not DirectX API or x86 instructions, as Proton and DXVK/VKD3D can translate these. The main obstacles are Microsoft's proprietary GDK, Xbox identity services, and encrypted MSIXVC packages, which are essential for license verification and game launch.

Current Progress and Technical Approach

The Xodus team reports that the project can already log into Xbox services, download game packages, and obtain game licenses. It includes an open-source implementation of xgameruntime.dll, custom forks of Wine and Proton, and xal-rs, an Xbox authentication library for Rust. Xodus uses proxy libraries to interface with GDK games and intercepts API calls to transmit valid Xbox Live tokens.

Future Development and Precedent

Current efforts are focused on emulating the Xbox Gaming Runtime from the Xbox GDK through Wine, with subsequent plans to enable local launching and playing of Xbox PC titles. The project has already overcome Xbox/Microsoft authentication, license checks, and package decryption. Another open-source project, BedrockonLinux 2.0, which brings Minecraft Bedrock to Linux, utilizes similar reverse-engineering techniques to manage GDK components, allowing the game to interact with Xbox Live for token authentication in sandboxed environments like SteamOS.