Coming along nicely

As a PC gamer, with Windows 10 looking like more of a dumpster fire with each passing month, and Linux looking more and more like the OS that I'll end up using in 2020, I've obviously been keeping an eye on the progress of Valve Software's Steam Play/Proton initiative. I'd even tried switching to Linux a few months ago, literally formatting my hard drive and installing Ubuntu... only to discover that Ubuntu came with some frustrating limitations, and that Proton itself wasn't quite ready for prime time.

Proton was very promising, but it was clearly not a polished enough consumer experience yet that the average consumer should be thinking of making the switch. That was back in August, though, and this is November. With three more months to work on their tech, how much progress have Valve made?

There was only one way to know. Armed with my list of shame (i.e. every game on my Steam account that I have yet to play), I looked them up on ProtonDB to find out how they were rated for Steam Play performance. To say that the results surprised me, would be something of an understatement.

Here's how my Steam library breaks down, using the rating definitions from ProtonDB:

Native	Platinum	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Borked	No Rating
42.5%	13.7%	11.8%	13.7%	5.2%	7.2%	5.9%

Yes, it turns out that nearly 43% of the games that I own already run natively in Linux, and don't need Proton at all; another 25% of them run perfectly in Proton, with only minor tweaking required, if that. Add in the "silver" tier, which basically work with some minor issues, and I have over 80% of my Steam library accessible to me in Linux right now, only three months after Proton was announced. How much further along will Proton be in a year's time?

In fact, I may give Ubuntu/Proton another go, over the Christmas break. Although this time, maybe I'll just dual-boot, rather than blowing away Windows entirely.

Valve have been working hard, for years, to break Microsoft Windows' stranglehold on PC gaming. It isn't all altruism; being able to establish Steam as a gaming platform that's equivalent to, and independent of, any competitors' OS or hardware has obvious and enormous value to Valve. That was why they embarked on their ill-fated SteamOS/Steam Machine project in the first place.

But it also has enormous potential value to consumers. Are you sick of being an uncompensated product tester for Microsoft? Of them advertising to you from the fucking Start menu, or nagging at you from the task bar? Of the bloatware that keeps reinstalling itself? Of the fact that they don't care about what you think or feel at all?

Well, fear not, Never10er! In a year's time, it's looking like you really will have a viable option... for gaming, at least.