Nexus Mods’ multiplatform mod manager, the aptly titled Nexus Mods App, is dead with the go-to mod service now focusing entirely on its Windows-only Vortex app for the future. While the service’s old app did have native Linux support, Nexus is now focusing on bringing that support to Vortex.
Following the announcement of the old app’s death, Nexus confirmed that SteamOS support for Vortex is currently in the works for the mod manager. In the company’s “Focus for 2026” blog post, they confirmed that SteamOS support is a priority for the service.
Obviously, this which sense considering the wide overlap between SteamOS users and modding enthusiasts. In fact, many Steam Deck users are constantly modding their own hardware in both hardware and software, as well as installing custom Steam Deck profiles for games and just normal mods as well.
With the upcoming launch of Valve’s Steam Machine, which will likely be a big hit amongst enthusiast gamers, having Vortex available on SteamOS should be a high priority, although it isn’t an essential app.
“We’re also committing to supporting Vortex on SteamOS,” the mod website confirmed. “We’ll be targeting vanilla Steam hardware like the Steam Deck and Steam Machine. We won’t be officially supporting any other configurations, but as Vortex is an open source project community developers will be free to extend support for their preferred Linux distros as they please.”
While not officially verified by Steam on account of not being a Steam App, the Windows version of Vortex should also work well on Steam Deck simply via Proton. However, there will be some oddities due to the different file structures between Windows and Linux, and there may be some inconsistencies that aren’t present natively.
Nevertheless, despite the loss of the Nexus Mods App, Steam Deck and Steam Machine users will not be left behind entirely by the shift over to Vortex. Instead, everyone, unless you’re a MacOS user, should have an improved experience that will make modding easier.
Of course, you don’t need Vortex to mod games, even if their files are hosted on Nexus. Modding is pretty much always about dropping files into their correct place, unless the mod requires a launcher, and you’ll still be able to do that without installing anything. However, it should be simpler and easier—both to install and update mods—with Vortex installed.
