Can Valve Save Linux Gaming In 2021?

Let’s begin with a sobering observation. Despite two straight years of incredible advancements in Linux gaming — including going from 0 to 6000+ Windows-only games playable on the Steam for Linux client — that progress has barely moved the needle for Linux adoption. As our own James Mawson so poignantly states:

This night-and-day difference has driven a growth so feeble, it’s difficult to separate from statistical noise. Linux isn’t even a serious threat to the Mac in this space. Crazy.

Clearly We Have Work To Do…

Proton 5 now ships with the Steam for Linux client, and it introduces improved performance, support for DX12 and much more.

As Valve’s exhaustive 2020 recap points out, an increase in developers testing their games against Proton (without needing to invest huge time and resources into developing native ports) resulted in substantial AAA titles like Death Stranding, Cyberpunk 2077 and others being playable on Linux at or shortly after their native Windows 10 releases.

That’s wonderful for gamers already immersed in the Linux gaming ecosystem, but let’s be honest with ourselves and admit there are still valid reasons to dual-boot Windows.

Maybe that’s the lure of popular games that rely on anti-cheat software or invasive DRM…