This is just a thought/discussion thread.

It’s often debated if Proton has helped Linux development as on one hand it has made gaming on Linux much easier and opened up a much bigger library of games than ever before to Linux gamers. For developers it makes supporting Linux while developing for the mass market of Windows gamers a relatively achievable lift. Instead of developing a separate set of binaries for a separate runtime, you can just develop for Windows and test for bugs and performance on Linux through Proton.

On the other hand, this compatibility layer has arguably made developing native Linux builds a lot harder for a developer to justify. The result is that developers are probably less likely to learn about developing for Linux and are kind of by definition treating Linux as a second class platform. In some cases I believe devs have discontinued their Linux builds and directed users towards running through Proton.

My take is that Proton has obviously done a huge service to Linux gaming and without it the Steam Deck would just be another Steam Machine - a nice idea that fails in the market due to a limited library. So many games “just work” using Proton that Linux gaming is finally accessible to a mainstream audience.

However, I believe that the criticism of Proton is also valid. Many devs will not justify maintaining a separate build for Linux when Proton works so well - even if in their hearts they would like to be a “Linux first” developer.

I believe the best way to change this would be for a “reverse proton” compatibility layer to turn the tables back around. If a developer could develop on Linux for Linux and with relative ease be confident they will be able to release to Windows a lot of more Linux friendly developers might choose to make Linux their native build.

I imagine that this would be a significant investment as far as projects go and at present I’m sure Proton is plenty of work on its own. But down the line a reverse proton could be a meaningful next step towards making Linux a more viable and mainstream development platform.