There was a time in the 2010s where some fairly large games had native Linux versions:
Alien: Isolation
Ark: Survival Evolved
BioShock: Infinite
Borderlands 2 and the Pre-Sequel (albeit with broken multiplayer caused by mismatched game versions)
Cities: Skylines
Dead Island
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Europa Universalis IV
Hearts of Iron IV
Hitman (2016)
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Shadow Warrior (2013) (notable for inspiring Doom 2016 and being a precursor to the current wave of boomer shooters)
War Thunder
XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and XCOM 2
That, along with Valve games (and by extension a lot of mods and custom server content) and basically every indie game you’d get from the Humble Bundle or itch.io having a native Linux version made it possible to be a Linux gamer before Proton was even a twinkle in Gabe’s eye. That was especially the case for me, since the types of games that tended to run on Linux were the sort of games I wanted to play anyway.
Fast forward to today and even Valve can’t be arsed to make a native Linux version of Deadlock. All of Frictional’s games from 2007 to 2020 had a Linux version, until 2023 when Amnesia: The Bunker didn’t have one.
I’m glad we have Proton: it runs Arx Fatalis better than modern windows does, let’s me play Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Fallout: New Vegas, and a slew of other games. It also opens Linux gaming up to a wider audience and removes a lot of the anxiety someone might have about switching over from wondering if they’ll be able to play everything they’re interested in. But in exchange for that we’re definitely paying the price in actual native games, and to some degree further entrenching Windows as the standard.
It appears that the Civilization series is one notable exception to this trend, with V (2010), VI (2016) and VII (2025) all having Linux versions.
Civ VI’s Linux port is pretty far behind the Windows/Proton version in terms of content, and is substantially less performant too IME.
While I can agree that native releases are better in theory, having to target an additional platform in practice means they’re often neglected and offer a lesser experience.
You get cases like Rocket League, which had a Linux port until Epic bought it and decided that they couldn’t be arsed maintaining it anymore.
You get things like Tomb Raider (2013), which had a great port that did run really well when I tried it on my RX 480 and core i5 5600 in the summer of 2016/2017, but now runs like total arse at 30fps on my RX 6800XT and 3700X because it relies on terribly outdated libraries, to the point where it now defaults to running under Proton anyway.
You have to get the users and the devs running all their favorite games / apps on Linux seamlessly, even those games which are out of development. Once that happens then the users won’t care about the ‘how’ for the most part, and the devs who do care about the ‘how’ will begin making things in a way that does not require the Microsoft tax.
I’m an idealistic purist, but I don’t refuse to use proton, I use it all the time.
My issue is that proton has enabled devs to put their head in the sand for Linux support.
It has shifted from -> we won’t support Linux because nobody uses it to -> we won’t support Linux because it works with proton.
So as a long term solution, proton enables bad practices from devs and continues the proliferation of libraries like directX
There was a time in the 2010s where some fairly large games had native Linux versions:
That, along with Valve games (and by extension a lot of mods and custom server content) and basically every indie game you’d get from the Humble Bundle or itch.io having a native Linux version made it possible to be a Linux gamer before Proton was even a twinkle in Gabe’s eye. That was especially the case for me, since the types of games that tended to run on Linux were the sort of games I wanted to play anyway.
Fast forward to today and even Valve can’t be arsed to make a native Linux version of Deadlock. All of Frictional’s games from 2007 to 2020 had a Linux version, until 2023 when Amnesia: The Bunker didn’t have one.
I’m glad we have Proton: it runs Arx Fatalis better than modern windows does, let’s me play Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Fallout: New Vegas, and a slew of other games. It also opens Linux gaming up to a wider audience and removes a lot of the anxiety someone might have about switching over from wondering if they’ll be able to play everything they’re interested in. But in exchange for that we’re definitely paying the price in actual native games, and to some degree further entrenching Windows as the standard.
It appears that the Civilization series is one notable exception to this trend, with V (2010), VI (2016) and VII (2025) all having Linux versions.
Civ VI’s Linux port is pretty far behind the Windows/Proton version in terms of content, and is substantially less performant too IME.
While I can agree that native releases are better in theory, having to target an additional platform in practice means they’re often neglected and offer a lesser experience.
You get cases like Rocket League, which had a Linux port until Epic bought it and decided that they couldn’t be arsed maintaining it anymore.
You get things like Tomb Raider (2013), which had a great port that did run really well when I tried it on my RX 480 and core i5 5600 in the summer of 2016/2017, but now runs like total arse at 30fps on my RX 6800XT and 3700X because it relies on terribly outdated libraries, to the point where it now defaults to running under Proton anyway.
Yes, that’s valid, but I think it’s very much so short term thinking.
eventually if enough windows things are supported on linux, the question will become why use windows?
once everything works out of the box, laptop manufacturers will say “why are we paying microsoft this licensing fee”
there would have been no other way to win the war, this gives us a chance in the very long term.
eventually publishers may say “why do we support windows?”
the next pillar that I think will fall in our favor is anticheat, once that goes down the sky is the limit for our longterm prospects
I agree with this totally.
You have to get the users and the devs running all their favorite games / apps on Linux seamlessly, even those games which are out of development. Once that happens then the users won’t care about the ‘how’ for the most part, and the devs who do care about the ‘how’ will begin making things in a way that does not require the Microsoft tax.