Context:
Back in 2018, Philip Robohle (doitsujin) developed DXVK because he wanted to play Nier Automata on Linux.
Valve hired him to work on it full time, then they released Proton (Wine + DXVK) a few months later. Proton likely would never have existed if it weren't for DXVK, and by extension the Steam Deck either wouldn't exist or would use Windows instead, and all the other cool Linux-related stuff Valve have worked on since probably wouldn't have happened.
Desktop Linux's marketshare rising is obviously not exclusively because of the gaming improvements, but it's for sure a huge boon. Good enough for a dumb meme like this, lol
I also just noticed I got the percentage in the meme wrong. Oops.
Linux is now at 4.55% desktop marketshare (up from <1% in early 2018).
Linux's desktop marketshare has risen by ~350-400%, not 3.5-4%.
EDIT: reuploaded with corrected value
While I see DXVK was important, Valve's history with Linux is much older. I would place "anime girl thighs" on the second domino
SteamOS was first released in 2013, just before they released there first hardware running Linux, the duly forgotten Steam Machines in 2015.
The first domino is probable gaben working at microsoft honestly
I think Valve would have gone ahead without DXVK as well. Either with Gallium Nine or Wine's Direct3D implementation or so. With the Steam Machines they were already on the Linux train before DXVK.
I switched to Linux around 2019, I thought dxvk was a lot older. How did games run in wine without dxvk?
Wine had its own translation layer that would translate to opengl. It just wasn't that good.
the only thing i hate about the rise of steam gaming is the loss of owning physical media since you can't by physical copies of steam deck games.
that's true but i think compared to most other consoles nowadays it goes a very sustainable path. valve does nothing to prevent you from running gog games, which are true digital ownership at least. i know physical media are the most tangible option in the moment, but in the long run blurays for example actually have a limited lifespan
Is it ownership you’re worried about? There are other ways to have backups. Also, aren’t most PC games digital?
most of the time i play switch and ps5, which i can get physical copies though. i just like to have them given the way a lot of streaming companies have just pulled content without warning.
edit: also that brings us to another point; you used to be able to go in and buy boxed pc games in the store all the time
There real ownership I worry about is valve
Gaben will Not be the benevolent dictator forever, and I hope whoever inherits the company will follow his footsteps
This + the monopoly steam has over PC gaming and thier unfair pricing practices. I know that Valve is universaly praised for their contribution to Linux, but don't forget these issues.
I'd argue that the problem with non-physical releases is mainly conservation, and software pirates seem to have that covered for PC releases.
Now if you wanna buy a game, DRM free is of course preferable. I buy as much as I can from gog, because I don't want to blindly trust any corporation, regardless of their past record. After all, valve is set up in a way that gives them all the leverage.
Buying from GOG is also useful as you can keep the offline installers somewhere if you have the storage for it.
Steam funding a Linux-based gaming OS became inevitable as soon as Microsoft started selling games in the Microsoft store. The message was clear from that point: If you stay stuck to a single OS, they can always shut you down whenever they feel like it.
Ironic, since 2B doesn't have ass on any platform. My anaconda don't want none of that.
