Recently, developer Embark Studios announced that it would be taking on the cheating community that has plagued The Finals by upgrading its security by introducing a new software that directly focuses on the kernel-driver-based cheating community. For many players, this was a win, but it led a handful of others to be a tad concerned as the software is a nightmare for Linux users to get around as it's often not supported on the platform. However, thankfully Embark won't be giving up support for the platform and its players who use that system.
Speaking to its community who use SteamOS, Proton, Wine, and even Steam Deck, Embark states in a Discord message captured by a Reddit user that "there are no plans to drop support" and that "despite us not officially supporting the platform, we will do our utmost best to maintain your ability to play!"
As for why the developer is going down this route that puts a handful of its community at risk, Embark explained originally in a Steam blog post:
"As mentioned in the 7.0 patch notes, a lot of cheats these days use a kernel-driver to read and write memory to gain an unfair advantage. This means that they run in a privileged mode in the Windows operating system, making it unlikely and in some cases impossible to detect via Anti-Cheat in the game client. The technical solution to combat this is kernel-driver Anti-Cheat. We believe that this is, and will be, a requirement for every competitive multiplayer game for the foreseeable future."
This isn't all that Embark has planned though, as the developer even adds: "We're also using machine learning to analyze player behavior, and we have been doing so since the launch of THE FINALS. Machine learning provides valuable insights, especially when detecting cheats such as aimbot usage."
It signs off with: "Cheat makers exploit everyone: players, developers, and the community itself. We're committed to protecting fair play and adapting to new threats."