Here’s a potentially unpopular opinion… Games that target the Proton API are actually native Linux games. Proton isn’t virtualization or emulation, it’s just an API that happens to be mostly compatible on both Windows and Linux. Other than the kernel itself, Linux has never had one true API to do anything… there’s always more than one option to target (as you note with your Wayland/x11 example, but also pulse, alsa, pipewire, the list is endless). Proton is an API that’s available on Linux, and programs that target the Proton API are Linux programs in every way that matters.
The question isn’t native vs proton. The question is whether proton is a good API. At the moment, it’s an API that offers pretty good cross platform compatibility with windows, which is hugely valuable to developers and they’re using Proton for that reason and even testing against it. That’s good for us as users and for gaming on Linux.
If Windows evolves their versions of the proton APIs in ways that break compatibility and are difficult to fix, we may find that game devs complain on our behalf to avoid breaking their Linux builds. If Proton begins to suck compared to alternatives, and enough people are playing games on Linux with Proton, devs will organically start to look at other porting options more seriously. But Proton is both a way to kickstart the chicken/egg problem, and itself may just actually be a good API to develop Linux games against.
Philosophically there isn't much difference between a Windows game running in Proton and a native Linux game. Devs that port games to Linux are going to be doing most of the same things Proton is doing anyway. In that sense, Proton is basically just an automatic porting tool that works in real time. And I'd like to say there is still value in native Linux games but... is there? Proton is open source, so devs could (theoretically) just submit changes to it themselves if they want to optimize things or fix bugs. And that could benefit everyone, not just that one game.
At this point, the only way I see a game being native is with it being an AppImage or equivalent. The resources to keep up a Windows flavor along a native port would be wasteful. The only thing I would like to see is companies stop using launchers and kernel based anti-cheat systems.
That’s basically how steam does linux support now. There are different runtimes you can target that get frozen and have long term support. The issue is these namespaces/containers/runtimes only became available in late 2019, and meanwhile proton was getting so good and the Linux marketshare is so small that linux steam runtimes didn’t really take off. If Linux market share continues to grow, Valve is ready to support developers building better supported linux native binaries.
Linux native for me was always somewhat problematic in the past. Frankly if someone tells you otherwise they’re lying. Proton makes the process simple, click install and play, that’s it, and that’s all any consumer needs to do.
The only long term consequence I can see is if Microsoft decides to make using compatibility layers for their SDK’s intentionally difficult or downright illegal. Valve so far has proven as long as they can do it, they’ll update proton to make games work. The question is will someone pick up the torch if valve eventually stops?
I treat them the same, doesn’t matter to me as proton really is performance parity with Windows and that’s really the baseline.
Until porting natively is just as easy as using proton, no one will port natively. At this point who cares? Native and proton to me are the same at this point.
I started to look at wine/Proton as just another linux runtime. At least now game devs have sth (mostly) stable and backwards compatible that they can target. It is really important since in Linux world, things are much more prone to experience breaking changes. Also the fact that game devs just need to develop one version for both Linux and Windows makes it super easy to target proton - you even don’t need to have a separate build process. Hence we get a more ‘refined’ version than just half-assed port made by a small team or third-party.
So I’m quite happy with how things are now. It just shows how flexible and capable Linux really is. And who knows maybe in the distant utopian future, Linux (or sth based on it similar to chomebooks, but maybe not as gimped) will pick up market and we will have much more “native” runtime.
I always try the native version first if a game has one (old "native" ports using Wine don't count) and only use Proton if it has serious problems. I want to see more Linux native games, and so I go out of my way to play them in their native version. There are some games that I own where the native version is clearly inferior to Proton, but for most it's equal, or only slightly worse at best (I mean "Pillars of Eternity not having cloak physics in native version" level worse).
wine/proton is so good at this point and it’s getting better day by day. imo there is no need for native games but if some competative games like counter-strike, dota etc. gonna make little bit more performance out of native port then devs should consider native ports too.
Team Fortress 2 runs sweet native linux just got an udate too ;) The steam deck accelerated the development of proton so much, if they released another linux based product it would probably encourage more native games or at least better support with proton.
The steam deck and proton are game changers. Steam deck makes linux worth some nominal support. Simultaneously, proton means they don’t need a full port. All they need to do is not actively break compatibility with proton, which is a lot easier. This lowers the bar drastically for developers.
If it’s a closed binary-only game then I really don’t care what “runtime” it uses as long as it runs well. Almost all games use their own GUI so they won’t be integrating with anything anyway and since they are closed I won’t be able to build them from source. It either runs and plays well or it doesn’t. Using Wine as the runtime is not that different from a game like Slay the Spire running in a JVM.
So I have no problem with switching stuff over to Wine/Proton if that works better.
I tend to avoid linux native, although i do give it a go when possible to see if it doesn’t suck(which it usually does.)
Usually you get a much more uniform and smooth experience with wine or proton. Which makes sense given how there are a ridiculous amount of distros out there.
I actually experience the opposite, even though native games throwing fits sounds about right.
I have very few native games, the ones I remember atm are Valheim (which I didn’t realize was native at first), X3:TC (+ later expansions) and X4:F; the native versions work relatively flawlessly even in Windowed mode with Sway being my WM, so that’s something.
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