I know people are gung-ho on Proton as the future, but I can't trust anything that's not officially supported. I recognize it's bridging a gap here, but we cannot put all our eggs in this basket. The end goal should be getting developers to officially support Linux instead of just hoping Proton never breaks.
Proton is useful for improving support for games so that more people may consider Linux, once Linux's market share grows then more official support will come. But Linux has bigger issues than games to solve before masses could adopt it outside of specific implementations e.g. SteamOS/ChromeOS.
Microsoft will never let go the gaming market. And certainly not by nicely allowing devs to mimic their API. If linux is every taking off as a gaming platform then Microsoft will simply release their own anti-cheat just like they released their own antivirus. With tpm2 etc...etc... and gamers will clap.
If your comparison is TPM and Defender then I'm sorry to tell you but absolutely nobody is clapping at this. People despise pretty much every Microsoft decision and will actively try to work around them
Microsoft don't really get to dictate it beyond their own games. Vulkan already exists, it's on developers to use it and through use it will be improved. Nvidia is a problem, right now you really want an AMD card for Linux and Nvidia are not rushing to support it. Linux is forever maturing, which is why it will struggle to ever see wide-spread use, unless major players suddenly start support for it, but why would they, when the market share isn't worth it... and on and on it goes.
Valve really needs to push for Linux compatibility adoption for anti-cheat software.
Once Linux gets adopted by these companies, there's really no other feature Linux gaming can't one-up Windows gaming.
That is not easy. Linux is about having full control over our own hardware. Client-side anti-cheats are about preventing user of having full control of the system.
Especially the kernel-side anti cheats rely on kernel not being controlled by the user.
A few of them did. The problem is also implementation in the games.
In the past few months, I've been able to play more multiplayer games in Linux than before (notably Insurgency and Squad now work).
I tend to mostly play single player, but all in all, I don't even remember when I last booted my Windows partition. If it wasn't for a last glimmer of hope of reviving my Oculus CV1, I'd probably wipe it.
That's the last of the big walls, but unfortunately there is still work to be done.
The main problem I see is that most of the support is through proton, and often almost all the work is done by valve. Without native games (well ported) the performance is inferior.
I’m a little surprised to see them put effort into an Activision Blizzard game that has never been on Steam. I wonder if they’re anticipating a change there, perhaps with the potential buyout by Microsoft.
I feel like Valve is also just full of the type of nerds that want to fix bugs, regardless of profit motive. Proton is as much a passion project as it is an answer to Windows.
Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox. It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Switch. And it entered several agreements to for the first time bring Activision’s content to several cloud gaming services.
And what are the potential consequences of not living up to these commitments? Call me cynical, but I don’t think a pinkie swear is worth much.
The Steam Deck has no doubt dramatically increased the number of Linux gamers, but at the same time the market has just grown at an even faster pace. It would be amazing if they gave us some absolute numbers one day, but I doubt they will. It’s a great start though, Valve have done so much for gaming on Linux!
It’s the main reason I’ve held off on it, it works for now but they seem pretty gung-ho on implementing anti cheat that will break proton support. Don’t really want to get into a game that will stop working on my devices down the line
If you’re interested in 4X games at all Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri is only $1.49. It absolutely holds up and to this day probably still has the best story of any 4X game.
It also works great on Steamdeck with a couple of easy tweaks. Unfortunately the instructions for those tweaks are currently in Reddit blackout shutdown limbo so I can’t copy them here, but when the blackout ends you can Find The Instructions Here.
gamingonlinux.com
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