Gaming has been literally the only thing keeping me on windows for at least a decade now, and with SteamOS/Proton reaching their current levels of compatibility I finally feel like I can make the switch with my next PC and not have to worry about it.
I could put linux on my current gaming tower, but I’ll fully admit that it’s just easier not to. It’s a comfortable shoe at this point that I can’t be bothered to change while I already have it. Though if my hand was forced and I had some kind of catastrophic drive failure and lost my OS volume linux is probably what would go there in its place.
There are two other “PCs” in my home that I own, my Steam Deck and a NUC that I use as a home server. Both run linux.
I’m fortunate in that basically nothing I play uses invasive anti-cheat garbage, which is still a huge compatibility problem. It has skeeved me out on windows for a long time, and I’ve avoided games that use many of them. I had many friends disappointed that I wouldn’t join them in Star Wars: The Old Republic back when that first came out precisely because I wouldn’t tolerate how invasive the anti-cheat was.
But there are lots of gamers for whom Proton still isn’t enough. A single game they want to play that won’t run is a dealbreaker. Or the only game they want to play won’t run. An OS that won’t run the game(s) they want to play isn’t fit for purpose for them, and those people are a huge proportion of gamers.
Gaming has been literally the only thing keeping me on windows for at least a decade now, and with SteamOS/Proton reaching their current levels of compatibility I finally feel like I can make the switch with my next PC and not have to worry about it.
I could put linux on my current gaming tower, but I’ll fully admit that it’s just easier not to. It’s a comfortable shoe at this point that I can’t be bothered to change while I already have it. Though if my hand was forced and I had some kind of catastrophic drive failure and lost my OS volume linux is probably what would go there in its place.
There are two other “PCs” in my home that I own, my Steam Deck and a NUC that I use as a home server. Both run linux.
I’m fortunate in that basically nothing I play uses invasive anti-cheat garbage, which is still a huge compatibility problem. It has skeeved me out on windows for a long time, and I’ve avoided games that use many of them. I had many friends disappointed that I wouldn’t join them in Star Wars: The Old Republic back when that first came out precisely because I wouldn’t tolerate how invasive the anti-cheat was.
But there are lots of gamers for whom Proton still isn’t enough. A single game they want to play that won’t run is a dealbreaker. Or the only game they want to play won’t run. An OS that won’t run the game(s) they want to play isn’t fit for purpose for them, and those people are a huge proportion of gamers.