Performance and playability on Linux are effectively solved by Proton; therefore, the effort required to maintain a native Linux build is an unnecessary and inefficient use of development resources, especially for smaller studios. “Holding games back” on Linux feels like a semantic distinction if we’re moving to a world where every PC game is playable on Linux.
(this assumption relies on Linux marketshare growing and the remaining games that don’t support Proton due to anti-cheat software eventually are pressured to support playing on Linux, even if they don’t build a native linux port. I think we’re well on our way to that future and it’s probably just a matter of time.)
Relying on Proton just offloads development/optimization to the community instead of the actual developers getting paid to develop it. Sure it’s cool the game runs better. But like pay people to do that.
I guess my question is why pay people to solve a problem two ways?
We have an increasingly functional way to play on two platforms with a single build. I’d love to have both for completeness, but as long as Proton is actively being worked on, I feel like that’s good enough and will certainly not hold back gaming on Linux for years to come.
If it gets a proper market share and can’t be ignored, developers will be more inclined to take care of it themselves. A lot of games come already working on it.
Performance and playability on Linux are effectively solved by Proton; therefore, the effort required to maintain a native Linux build is an unnecessary and inefficient use of development resources, especially for smaller studios. “Holding games back” on Linux feels like a semantic distinction if we’re moving to a world where every PC game is playable on Linux.
(this assumption relies on Linux marketshare growing and the remaining games that don’t support Proton due to anti-cheat software eventually are pressured to support playing on Linux, even if they don’t build a native linux port. I think we’re well on our way to that future and it’s probably just a matter of time.)
Relying on Proton just offloads development/optimization to the community instead of the actual developers getting paid to develop it. Sure it’s cool the game runs better. But like pay people to do that.
Valve does, they literally have teams dedicated to the work.
Also, do you guys (who can afford to) not have re-occuring donations going out to your favorite open source projects every month?
I guess my question is why pay people to solve a problem two ways?
We have an increasingly functional way to play on two platforms with a single build. I’d love to have both for completeness, but as long as Proton is actively being worked on, I feel like that’s good enough and will certainly not hold back gaming on Linux for years to come.
If it gets a proper market share and can’t be ignored, developers will be more inclined to take care of it themselves. A lot of games come already working on it.