Linux kernel 7.3 is officially out, and there's a good amount in it for gaming. GamingOnLinux went through the changes and points out that Valve helped with several of them, including work on graphics memory, older AMD GPUs and game controllers.
The biggest one is better VRAM handling. Valve-funded improvements help games make better use of limited VRAM, which could mean less stuttering and fewer performance drops. It isn't automatic, though. The full benefit needs extra userspace tools like dmemcg-booster and plasma-foreground-booster plus compatible GPU drivers, some of the graphics work also needs newer Mesa drivers, and this is only part of the planned VRAM work.
Controllers get some love too. Linux 7.3 adds initial built-in driver support for Valve's 2026 Steam Controller, and a new driver for the MSI Claw's built-in gamepad.
Other changes include CPU scheduling improvements that could help performance, especially on older hardware, better compatibility for older Radeon cards from the HD 7000 series through Polaris and Fiji, more reliable crash recovery on some older Radeon GPUs, Intel Nova Lake graphics enabled by default, and storage improvements for Btrfs and EXT4. GamingOnLinux is clear that you shouldn't expect a magical boost in every game.