[raisin_churn]

It's still not a target platform (either native Arch Linux or Proton) for very many games, so updates have broken a number of games that were previously rated "playable" or "verified", rendering them unplayable. TBF in every case I've heard of this happening, Valve has been quick to address it, so you may or may not consider that an issue. I don't game much these days, but when I do it's exclusively on my Linux desktop, so I have a high tolerance for troubleshooting occasional issues, but I definitely think it's a stretch to call that "ultimate."

[ziml77]

That's unfortunate that updates will break games on Steam Deck that had previously been working fine through Proton. But unless we want Valve getting in the middle and requiring various validations like Microsoft and Sony do on their consoles, there's not much that can be done about it. A strong refund policy on Steam might help, but to have any impact it will require significant numbers of Steam Deck users to initiate refund requests when compatibility breaks.

I still have hope for Linux gaming because the Steam Deck clearly has appeal that goes beyond the extreme niche that was Linux gamers prior to the Steam Deck's release.

[em-bee]

which updates break games? doesn't Steam have the ability to choose a different proton version per game? so if a proton/wine update breaks a game, you should be able to go back to a different version for that game. granted, it may be a UI issue to make this easy.

[raisin_churn]

Your reply is conflating two different things: updates to games, and updates to Proton. IME Proton updates almost never result in regressions (I think I've heard of it happening once, maybe twice ever), and Valve has and uses the ability to prefer specific Proton versions for specific games.

Game updates are what I have read about breaking compatibility with Proton. In this case AFAICT Valve's only option is to try to fix it with a Proton patch. I don't think Valve's standard distribution agreement gives them the right to distribute whatever old version of a publisher's game Valve feels like. Most games I've seen, Steam enforces automatic updates to the latest version. Pinning a previous version is such a rare use case, it is confusingly under the "Betas" tab of the game properties when it is even available to the user.

Even when Valve has the rights to arbitrarily pick an old version of the game to distribute, the only way to find out if an update is breaking is to test it, so if the developer doesn't test it, the players do. So either way, if Proton isn't a target platform, you have a higher risk of breaking bugs making it in front of players. I guess since serious bugs make it into release so frequently on supported platforms, this may not seem like an issue, but there is a very real psychological phenomenon where when software breaks on Windows, it is the software's fault, and when software breaks on Linux, it is Linux's fault.

[em-bee]

sorry, yes, i didn't realize you were talking about updates to games. yes, valve can only fix it with a patch to proton, but they can also encourage developers to test their games with proton.

holding games back because of proton bug is not acceptable (yet), although from the players side it would of course be nice to choose an older version if the new version fails to run.

there is a very real psychological phenomenon where when software breaks on Windows, it is the software's fault, and when software breaks on Linux, it is Linux's fault

of course, that is unfortunately going to remain a problem for some time to come.