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Problem is, there are fundamental issues with gaming on Linux that keeps it in neverending circle of “not my problem” attitude from game developers.
Proton layer is amazing achievement, but it just makes game devs not give a shit with native Linux games because “someone else” will fix their Windows game to run on Linux anyway. And if there are no native games for it, the market share never actually moves and all other devs just look at it and say “Proton layer will do my job anyway”. And so shit just never moves anywhere. In fact it has regressed. There used to be tons of native Linux games for Unreal Engine and Quake 3 Engine. Not anymore for a very long time now.
Is it worse though? What’s the actual benefit of Linux native if performance with Proton is largely the same?
I’ve been gaming on Linux since before Steam on Linux was a thing, and things are way better now than they’ve ever been. Yeah, there were more native Linux ports, but total game selection was much worse, and WINE compat was buggy more often than not.
Proton solves the chicken and egg problem of devs not supporting Linux because the audience is small, and the audience being small because of limited selection. Here’s what I’ve seen on Linux:
Only a handful of Linux native games outside of FOSS - notables were Minecraft and FTL, and I mostly found them on Humble Bundle; WINE was another option, but good luck
Steam comes to Linux, and brings hundreds of native Linux games - no compat layer though, but still decent selection - I made my account in 2013 when the client was released; game library explodes
Proton is a thing - now I can play a bunch of Windows games I couldn’t before; game library explodes again
Steam Deck is released, and with it a ton of fixes for Proton - game library swells substantially, and my collection of games with technical issues dwindles
Game devs start actually testing games on Steam OS, enable anti-cheat support on Linux, etc
Gaming on Linux is better than it ever has, and I honestly don’t even prefer native ports anymore because Proton has gotten so good. With step 5, we’re on the cusp of Linux gaming being mainstream outside of Steam Deck, and that’s when games will support Linux en masse, which means:
more anticheat support
less buggy day 1 experience
more users switching from windows
I’ll happily trade native Linux ports for orders of magnitude more games. Maybe we’ll get more native ports eventually for a few extra FPS, but honestly, I don’t care about that anymore.
And it gets worse, through system updates there are old native games that no longer work on modern systems. Meanwhile I can grab a random windows game from the 90s or early 2000s and it’ll probably work via proton.
Tbf there are old native games on Windows that don’t work on new systems. Few years ago when I was still using Win10 I couldn’t get LOTR BFME to run. I think it’s just part of an evolving ecosystem.
Speaking of, I should see if I can install BFME on Linux. I still have my old hard copy hanging around :>
Yup, just find the Proton version that works and you’re good. Games can be kept running much longer with compatibility layers much like how emulators keep console games going.
I have a physical copy of Heavy Gear 2 native for Linux. Tried getting it to work some time during late Covid era and just gave up and pirated the windows copy to run through Lutris.
Going forward I think that flatpaks can be great to keep things running in the future, or app images or bottles.
Just, something that installs a specific version of the libraries it needs for that game only separate from the rest of the system
Problem is, there are fundamental issues with gaming on Linux that keeps it in neverending circle of “not my problem” attitude from game developers.
Proton layer is amazing achievement, but it just makes game devs not give a shit with native Linux games because “someone else” will fix their Windows game to run on Linux anyway. And if there are no native games for it, the market share never actually moves and all other devs just look at it and say “Proton layer will do my job anyway”. And so shit just never moves anywhere. In fact it has regressed. There used to be tons of native Linux games for Unreal Engine and Quake 3 Engine. Not anymore for a very long time now.
Is it worse though? What’s the actual benefit of Linux native if performance with Proton is largely the same?
I’ve been gaming on Linux since before Steam on Linux was a thing, and things are way better now than they’ve ever been. Yeah, there were more native Linux ports, but total game selection was much worse, and WINE compat was buggy more often than not.
Proton solves the chicken and egg problem of devs not supporting Linux because the audience is small, and the audience being small because of limited selection. Here’s what I’ve seen on Linux:
Gaming on Linux is better than it ever has, and I honestly don’t even prefer native ports anymore because Proton has gotten so good. With step 5, we’re on the cusp of Linux gaming being mainstream outside of Steam Deck, and that’s when games will support Linux en masse, which means:
I’ll happily trade native Linux ports for orders of magnitude more games. Maybe we’ll get more native ports eventually for a few extra FPS, but honestly, I don’t care about that anymore.
And it gets worse, through system updates there are old native games that no longer work on modern systems. Meanwhile I can grab a random windows game from the 90s or early 2000s and it’ll probably work via proton.
Tbf there are old native games on Windows that don’t work on new systems. Few years ago when I was still using Win10 I couldn’t get LOTR BFME to run. I think it’s just part of an evolving ecosystem.
Speaking of, I should see if I can install BFME on Linux. I still have my old hard copy hanging around :>
Looked it up and someone had it running via a steam deck so looks like you’re set.
Yup, just find the Proton version that works and you’re good. Games can be kept running much longer with compatibility layers much like how emulators keep console games going.
I have a physical copy of Heavy Gear 2 native for Linux. Tried getting it to work some time during late Covid era and just gave up and pirated the windows copy to run through Lutris.
Going forward I think that flatpaks can be great to keep things running in the future, or app images or bottles.
Just, something that installs a specific version of the libraries it needs for that game only separate from the rest of the system
Just containerize native linux games.