Bazzite creator denies official collaboration with Windows handheld, says “GPD lied” to its customers
We recently reported on news of the GPD Win 5 handheld earning “official” support from Bazzite, becoming the first AMD Strix Halo-powered handheld to hold such a title. However, the creator of the open-source Bazzite project has come out to confirm they have nothing to do with this alleged collaboration, going as far as saying “GPD lied to you”.
It’s obviously not a great look for GPD (GamePad Digital). The Chinese brand is best known for its powerful gaming PC handhelds, with the most recent flagship being the GPD Win 5. This device boasts powerful Strix Halo hardware, featuring Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and AI Max 385 configurations with support for up to 128GB RAM and 4TB SSD storage.
Bazzite is not affiliated with GPD
Bazzite founder Kyle Gospodnetich confirmed the team has had “no recent contact with GPD of any kind” in an announcement posted to Universal Blue’s website yesterday. Universal Blue is a community-driven project that involves multiple Linux distros, including Bazzite. In a separate post from the Bazzite Discord server, snapped by GamingOnLinux, the founder says, “GPD lied to you sorry”.
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Interestingly, the GPD representative who posted the original “official adaptation” thread on Reddit claims that the Bazzite team has recently had a hold of the device, suggesting some kind of collaboration. It is worth noting that fixes to audio problems on the GPD Win 5 have been referenced in recent Bazzite releases, though this obviously doesn’t confirm any sort of official support. In the Discord post from Gospodnetich, he says, “We don’t officially work with anyone, we make hardware work and that’s it”.
It’s not a massive surprise to see Bazzite contributors simply working to improve the Linux-based operating system independent of any official tie-ins. After all, it’s an open-source project spearheaded by a handful of enthusiasts aiming to create a SteamOS-like experience compatible with a large range of hardware. As such, we don’t expect any sort of official support coming in future – that can be left to Valve, which, outside of the Steam Deck, has officially supported Lenovo’s Legion Go S, with plans release a SteamOS version of the Legion Go 2 later this year, too.
