Steam Deck

[ezra_s]

Hello,

I am not a fan of consoles, been playing games on PC always, and I am also an advanced Linux user and until recently I always tried to play my games in Linux (just recently I have become old and grumpy and using Windows more than usual).

Until recently we just couldn't play all games under Linux, there is even a database out there which tells how compatible is every game with Proton - https://www.protondb.com - (Proton is the layer that allows you to play Windows games under Linux in Steam, something like wine)

Now Steam has announced the Steam Deck, it says it runs under Steam OS 3.0 (based on Arch) With KDE!, and you will be able to play any game in your library.

Can anyone explain me how will that thing will be able to run any game in your library without issue if it's Linux underneath and knowing how Proton has been more or less working until recently? (not without a glitch)

 

[somebodyelse]

I can't see how it would be any different to previous SteamOS/SteamMachine incarnations - the usual Steam linux frontend running on a curated linux to support their hardware. Proton has greatly improved the ability to run recent Windows games, but as you say it's not perfect. My guess is they'll have a category of games that are known working to an acceptable standard, and limit the library to that subset by default. The rest of the library will be available if you toggle a setting that explains they may not work properly, much like you could enable the Proton beta. They could make Proton or native linux compatibility a condition of distribution I suppose (either fix your game or fix Proton before release), but that doesn't seem likely at this stage.

As an aside Proton isn't just 'something like Wine' - it's a fork of Wine with dxvk.