To me, if Valve wants Linux multiplayer to have a future, they need to demonstrate that they can develop a good Linux anti-cheat solution.

That’s much easier said than done. But I hope it’s a problem that they’re working on. Otherwise, it’s going to limit the potential of the Steam Deck and other future Valve Linux hardware.

I’m definitely interested in a modern Steam Machine and I wish them luck. But it’s tough to manage the logistics of crowdfunded hardware if you’re inexperienced and I’ve been burned before. Hopefully they can handle it.

It definitely has.

Native Linux support was often problematic because too many developers would use a third party to port the game and then fail to maintain it.

I absolutely love the Steam Deck and I’ll easily take the trade offs that Proton gives us. Maybe one day Linux will gain enough market share to justify more first party native support.

Proton is open source. Valve has also been incredibly supportive of and is actively contributing to an open ecosystem for Linux and SteamOS. Desktop mode in SteamOS exists so end users can install whatever tools they want on it.