They tried earlier on before they realized this approach made way, way more sense. Even the native linux versions of games that have them often run worse than t

They tried earlier on before they realized this approach made way, way more sense. Even the native linux versions of games that have them often run worse than the windows version wrapped in Proton. Developers just aren't going to commit to making native linux versions for the most part and that isn't going to change. This is reality. The magical thing is that they've done so much work with Proton that a device like the Steam Deck is more than a curiosity. It is a viable product. It is viable to play games on Linux in a way it has never been before. Even better, they aren't keeping it to themselves. A purist ideology about linux isn't going to change reality. But Proton is. The Deck is a wildly popular device and the knock-on effect is going to be more systems running linux for regular people. The games may not be native but if they're indistinguishable from native games, then who cares? Meanwhile adoption of linux as a viable platform still goes up. Maybe on a long enough timeline things swing around, though I still very much doubt that. The Year of Linux on the Desktop is still a fantasy, but reading the steam hardware survey, it is more true than it has ever been before, thanks to the Deck and Proton.