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Steam Beta fixes non-Steam games refusing to launch on Linux
Adding an external game or application to Steam is not terribly useful when the Play button stops launching it. That is the regression Valve has now fixed in the Steam Client Beta on Linux, following a troublesome few days for users relying on non-Steam shortcuts.
By Maëlle 
A very short fix for a rather inconvenient problem
Valve's official September 27 beta notes are unusually direct. Under Linux, the company says it fixed a regression that caused non-Steam games to fail to launch. The issue therefore concerned software manually added to the library rather than games distributed through Steam itself.
On Linux and SteamOS, that feature extends well beyond games purchased from another store. It can be used to integrate applications, third-party launchers, emulators and Flatpak software into Steam. On Steam Deck, it also provides a way to access those programs directly from Gaming Mode instead of repeatedly returning to the desktop.
The bug may have occupied a single line in the changelog, but its practical consequences were considerably larger. Users of the preceding beta reported that third-party applications and non-Steam shortcuts would no longer start, including Flatpak applications launched through Gaming Mode.
The beta branch introduced the regression
Reports appeared after an earlier Steam Client Beta update. In Steam discussions, Linux and Steam Deck users described non-Steam games, emulators and other third-party applications becoming impossible to launch through the client.
Some users temporarily returned to the stable branch. Others began modifying the launch commands used by their Flatpak applications. Valve's new fix directly targets the regression behind the problem, which should remove the need to manually patch individual shortcuts.
One distinction remains important: Valve documents the fix in the Steam Client Beta. It is therefore a correction available through the testing channel, not evidence that every user on the stable Steam client has already received the same build.
Valve also fixes the keyboard and Remote Play
The September 27 update is otherwise particularly small. Valve fixed an issue where the on-screen keyboard did not work the first time it was invoked on the desktop.
Remote Play also receives improved color accuracy when streaming an OpenGL game. This is not a major Steam overhaul, then, but a compact beta focused on fixing a handful of regressions and irritating behaviors.
A small bug affecting an important Steam Deck workflow
The incident mainly highlights the unusual importance of non-Steam shortcuts within Valve's Linux ecosystem. On a conventional PC they are convenient. On Steam Deck they also act as a bridge between the Linux desktop and the console-like Gaming Mode interface.
Software installed outside Steam can be added to the library and then launched using the Deck's controls and interface. When that bridge breaks, the problem is consequently broader than a few games from competing stores disappearing behind an unresponsive Play button: a whole collection of secondary SteamOS workflows can be affected.
For users remaining on the beta branch, the September 27 update is specifically intended to restore that launch behavior. Stable-channel users do not need to move to the beta simply because of this news: the documented fix remains a beta-channel change until Valve rolls it into a stable client release.