Soulcalibur VI players trying to play the game through Steam Play or Proton have found themselves banned from online play, even if they reinstall the game on Windows.

Proton is a fork of the WINE compatibility layer that allows Linux users to have a better experience playing Windows games. It was added earlier this year and is an extension of Steam's Steam Play system. It marks a big improvement to their Linux support on the platform.

The issue with Soulcalibur VI causes players to be banned from online play as soon as they start the game. The ban which extends to their entire Steam account for Soulcalibur VI. Some users are blaming Denuvo, a form of DRM that many games use, including Soulcalibur VI.

However, as Reddit user Aretak3D explains, Denuvo is DRM, not anti-cheat. If the issue was with DRM then the game wouldn't launch. The fact that players are being banned from online suggests that it's an issue with whatever anti-cheat solution Bandi Namco is using for Soulcalibur VI. They also point to the fact that Tekken 7 uses Denuvo and it officially supports Proton.

Interestingly enough, Valve also noted in the release that games with “complex DRM or anti-cheat systems will be difficult, or even impossible to support”. This may explain why Soulcalibur VI is having issues. The game will still open for these players and the single-player content is still accessible. Hopefully, the problem will be addressed soon.

We've reached out to Bandai Namco and Valve for comment. We will update the story with any developments.

What do you think? Have you been having issues with Soulcalibur VI and Steam Play on Linux? Let us know in the comments!