Background Recording significantly slows game mode launches

System: Steam Deck OLED, though users in the CachyOS discord also reported this on a Legion Go S and PC running handheld edition

Last system update: 3/11, 4 PM.

Issue appeared sometime between Feb 26 and March 8, affected both an updated system and a fresh install

Enabling Steam's "Background Recording" feature causes most game mode launches to be extremely slow (both via proton and non-steam flatpak shortcuts, though appimages seem mostly unaffected). When launching a game with this enabled, the spinning Steam logo will sit there for several minutes (typically 4-5) before the game eventually launches. (f a game has its own launcher, there is an equally long delay between the launcher and the game starting up).

The system audio may also cut out entirely while launching a game, which is fixed by switching to desktop mode. It's unclear at the moment if this audio issue is related or not, but appears to be so.

Desktop mode does not have these issues. Disabling Background Recording completely solves the issue.

Logs: https://paste.cachyos.org/p/82065e1.log
Log timeline:
14:27 - Fresh reboot, system starts up in gaming mode automatically, launch Warframe through Steam. Sits in logo loading screen

14:32 - Warframe launcher opens, click play, sits on black screen (loading screen with Menu/Abort options, but without spinning logo)

14:36 - Warframe launches. Game then manually closed.

14:37 - Non-steam game shortcut launched, using Proton. Loading is immediate, but sits on black screen. Manually closed. Seemed to be related, as disabling background recording later fixed this shortcut.

14:38 - Non-steam shortcut launched, native appimage. Works fine. Manually closed. Switched to desktop.

The issue names no repository files or tests; start by reproducing the delay with Steam Background Recording enabled in gaming mode, then compare Steam and non-Steam launches with it disabled and in desktop mode. Review the linked log at paste.cachyos.org/p/82065e1.log, including the recorded timeline. Done means affected launches no longer stall for several minutes and audio remains available.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.