I’m not saying it needs be on Steam to work, I’m saying it needs to be on Steam to be popular on the Steam Deck since the install process is otherwise quite involved. So if they just enable Proton in EAC, they’ll only get a handful of enthusiasts (who are probably playing on another platform anyway) and open themselves up to Linux-specific cheats.
so can Epic Games
I’m not saying they can’t, I’m saying it’s probably not profitable for them to do so. They’re not going to get many new users if they support Linux, so the net impact is that they’ll have another platform for support requests and potential cheats.
Apex is on Steam, so the barrier to play their game on Linux/Steam Deck is really low (just enable and potential users are now ~2% higher). So for them, turning on Linux support is probably profitable since they’ll convert a lot more people on that platform.
Please stop defending
What am I defending? I’m explaining why it likely doesn’t make business sense for Epic to support Linux. My point here isn’t to claim that Epic is doing something good here, but to show it’s probably not some weird hatred of Linux, but a business choice. Some of it is also probably a rivalry with Valve, but I don’t think Sweeney would let that get in the way of profits if push came to shove. Sweeney’s main goal AFAICT is to make money, not to stick it to some competitor.
Yes, Epic could support Linux pretty quickly if they chose to. They’re choosing not to, most likely because it won’t make them as much money as other efforts would. It’s really not complicated.