Steam for Linux introduces the ability to run games in isolated containers

Valve Company reported about testing in the beta release of the Steam client for Linux support for namespaces (namespace), which allow you to run games in additional isolation from the main system. The sandbox option is available for all games shipped as native Linux builds. Isolation mode can be enabled in the game properties dialog under 'Steam Linux Runtime / Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool'.

In addition to isolating system components, user data is also separated (the directory "~/.var/app/com.steampowered.App[AppId]" is mounted instead of /home). In addition to additional protection against crashes and vulnerabilities in gaming applications, the isolated launch mode makes it easier to ensure compatibility with different distributions and organize the launch of old games in new distributions, the system environment of which is not compatible with the libraries required to run the game. It is also possible to use containers to solve the inverse problem - the use of fresh content in games. runtume, which includes new versions of libraries, without breaking compatibility with still supported LTS distributions.

Number of Linux games available in the Steam catalog brought to 6470. The milestone of a thousand games was passed in mid-March 2015, three thousand games were observed at the beginning of 2017.

Source: opennet.ru