So it is proper Linux, as GP comment implies. Yes it's running games in Windows compatibility layers, but it is also a complete Linux system itself, with desktop. Definitely counts as running Linux.
And a decent chunk of those games are running on the Unity or Unreal runtimes. Do they count as "running on Windows"? Where are we drawing the line here?
if the developer released it as a windows build but is being played though a compatibility layer, yes. Unity and Unreal both support deploying Linux builds, but it doesn't mean making a proper Linux port is as easy as pressing the "Linux" button.
>Where are we drawing the line here?
I don't personally care for what counts or not. I just personally wish for more native support.
Depends ... It can be that easy, sometimes. I was maintaining a huge Unity based VR setup the last years which had both Linux and Windows PCs (mostly for legacy reasons). Building for both platforms was done from the same bash script with the only difference being the platform identifier.
Tbf that was a very standalone application that did not interact with the OS a lot, but otoh I would assume that a lot of games are like that.
As someone who has played a lot of games with native linux "support", I want less of it.
In nearly every instance of these native ports, switching to using the windows version via Proton was a better experience, either because the Linux version was outdated, unmaintained and buggy, or it simply performed better.
Annoyingly, as far as I can tell, Steam these days doesn't make a distinction between native ports and Proton games so it's hard to tell if I'm getting served the unloved child version until something goes drastically wrong and I have to start messing around with it.
Any kind of port can be of high or low quality, though.
this is fascinating..
Is it possible to install Arch linux and add the SteamOS layer and cut over and back again as desired?
You can also just go to the normal KDE Plasma environment from the steam menu and use it like normal Linux - or even install let's say emulators from Arch repos and add them to Steam then run them from SteamOS interface.
Sure, I can see that. My solution to that one day will hopefully be to make sure devs can keep their linux platforms updated, not give up and go around it with a windows build.
But Proton discourages that, not encourages. As you said, Steam doesn't want you to know what build you are playing, and if the audience doesn't know, then the devs won't care either.
I've only run SteamOS on my Deck, but afaik if you install it on something else then you can still flip it between the gaming mode and the desktop mode. In desktop mode it behaves exactly like you'd expect an Arch Linux install to behave, and you can mess around with it as much as you'd like. In gaming mode it's like a console and really only plays games (but isn't limited to Steam games - people have got it running emulators and all sorts of other stuff too).
At least that's my very limited experience with linux gaming. I started only a couple of weeks ago, but so far, everything works incredibly well.
There are a couple of other game launchers, like Heroic, which handles both Epic and GOG games, which also works great.
But what's even better, is that if a GOG game doesn't quite run perfectly on Heroic because it lacks some of the latest refinements from Proton, you can import that game into Steam and taie advantage of Valve's nice work on Proton anyway.
I might do that; Cyberpunk on Heroic doesn't support raytracing or DLSS, and as I understand it, those do work if I were to run it on Steam. So that's a very nice option to have.
In the mid '10s Feral (and a to a lesser extent Aspyr), ported many AAA games to linx. Many of the ports were of quite good quality. I own a few of them, yet occasionally I have to switch to the Proton version as the native one fails to start.
OSS games are the exception of course: being able to produce a good working binary from source make them future proof.