Valve’s Steam Deck handheld PC has prompted fairly a stir amongst PC gaming geeks, however the largest shakeup won’t be its Nintendo Switch-like form factor. The software program operating within it’s the actual shock. Why does the Steam Deck run Linux? Blame Windows.

The Steam Deck and the software program within it are the end result of an almost decade-long “hedging strategy” embarked upon by Valve chief Gabe Newell and firm many moons in the past, when Microsoft tried exerting extra management over builders with Windows 8.

But it’s additionally the subsequent part of Valve’s escape plan.

Editor’s notice: With the Asus ROG Ally appearing as a potential true Steam Deck competitor and leaks of a “Windows handheld mode” making the rounds, we needed to re-run this evaluation of how Valve laid the long-term groundwork for the Steam Deck. The unique story continues under; it printed on August 6, 2021, earlier than the Steam Deck’s launch, so statistics and commentary on Proton’s particular tough edges could not be relevant. (SteamOS now supports Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye software, for instance.)

“A catastrophe”

Windows 10 smoothed over Windows 8’s worst sins, so you could not keep in mind how completely different—or “a catastrophe,” to make use of Newell’s phrases—that working system was when it launched in 2012.

Windows 8 bent over backwards to make cellular UI a precedence, relegating the desktop to “just another app” standing in a display screen full of colourful tiles. More ominously, the Windows Store launched alongside the working system, with strict necessities in regards to the types of software program allowed and a steep gatekeeper payment much like what Apple and Google cost for inclusion of their app shops. Developers feared Microsoft would change into more and more draconian in its guidelines. Their issues have been escalated by the simultaneous launch of Windows RT, an Arm-based model of Windows that restricted customers to utilizing solely software program sanctioned by the Windows Store. (RT rapidly fizzled.)

Devoted PC sport builders felt particularly anxious. Newell known as it “a giant sadness.” Blizzard government VP Rob Pardo tweeted that Windows 8 is “not awesome for Blizzard either” within the wake of Newell’s ‘catastrophe’ remark. Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson instructed Microsoft to “stop trying to ruin the PC as an open platform” when it requested him to certify the sport for Windows 8.

While Notch satirically sold Minecraft to Microsoft for $2.5 billion simply a few years later, Newell and Valve reacted to the “catastrophe” the way in which most sane of us would: Disaster prep, in order that they wouldn’t be caught flat-footed if Microsoft determined to clench its fist across the open PC ecosystem.

The SteamOS escape hatch

Windows 8 launched on August 1, 2012. In December, 2013, Valve introduced SteamOS to the masses.

Well, not likely. The beta model of the Steam-centric working system required arcane technical data to put in, and Valve itself warned that “unless you’re an intrepid Linux hacker already, we’re going to recommend that you wait until later in 2014 to try it out.” The working system actually had loads of tough edges out of the gate—it labored solely with Nvidia GPUs, for instance—however Valve labored diligently on sharpening them. By October 2015, Valve’s Steam Machines launched.

And failed. Hard.

The Steam Machine endeavor was doomed from the start, and I laid out the case for why they’d even earlier than they launched. There have been a number of causes: delays, poor communication from Valve, an unorthodox new Steam Controller wanted to make use of the PCs, the simultaneous launch of the more-versatile Steam Link, and a “good, better, best” branding technique for Steam Machine makers that sowed additional confusion. But looking back the most important downside was SteamOS itself.

SteamOS might solely run Linux video games, you see. And gaming on Linux was dismal in 2015. I used to keep up a list of the best Linux games as a result of so few builders bothered to create Linux ports. Coaxing video games into operating typically required unique workarounds and third-party instruments, and even then, video games that ran in any respect typically ran jankily. Again: It’s no shock Steam Machines failed.

Valve discovered its lesson. You don’t cease planning for a disaster simply since you run into some highway bumps. After Steam Machines died, one thing far more momentous—and the important thing to the Steam Deck’s existence—rose from their ashes.

Proton: Linux classes discovered

If builders wouldn’t make video games for Linux, Valve determined it might spend money on making Windows video games run on Linux as an alternative. In 2018, Valve introduced Proton, a fork of the favored WINE compatibility layer that lets Linux PCs play Windows video games. (If you aren’t aware of WINE, depend your self fortunate.)

“There was always kind of this classic chicken and egg problem with the Steam Machine,” Valve designer Scott Dalton instructed IGN. “That led us down this path of Proton, where now there’s all these games that actually run.”

Proton was actually a game-changer. If Linux gaming was a near-barren desert earlier than, Proton was the water it so desperately wanted. Thousands upon hundreds of Windows video games might simply be performed on Linux PCs now—some tinkering required at instances, natch. Over the previous couple of years, Valve (with assist from the WINE consultants at CodeWeavers) has labored onerous to repair probably the most evident points. In 2018, our curated checklist of one of the best Linux video games topped out at 35 titles. Right now, the community-run ProtonDB website is monitoring virtually 19,000 Proton-compatible video games, and over 15,000 of them run simply nice on Linux.

The expertise nonetheless isn’t fairly good, as our have a look at how Proton will make or break the Steam Deck particulars in additional depth. The hottest multiplayer shooters don’t work on Linux as a result of BattlEye and Easy Anti-Cheat aren’t appropriate with Proton. Valve says it’s working with these studios to get help for the expertise forward of the Steam Deck’s launch. If the previous is any indication, Valve will get it proper ultimately. (Update: It did.)

The Steam Deck is a Trojan Horse

Valve isn’t simply pushing a handheld gaming PC. Gabe Newell and firm are nonetheless getting ready for potential disaster. While you may have a look at the Steam Deck because the end result of practically a decade of labor for Valve, you may as well have a look at it within the different route. If the Steam Deck is profitable, it should pressure builders to commit extra consideration to Linux—or at the very least to contemplate Proton compatibility whereas coding. With every sport that runs simply nice on the Steam Deck, Valve’s escape hatch opens just a few inches wider.

“We’re trying to make sure that Linux thrives,” Newell instructed Venture Beat simply forward of Windows 8’s launch in 2012. “…We’re going to continue working with the Linux distribution guys, shipping Steam, shipping our games, and making it as easy as possible for anybody who’s engaged with us—putting their games on Steam and getting those running on Linux, as well.”

The Steam Deck—and Proton earlier than that, and Steam Machines earlier than that, and SteamOS earlier than that—drives house that Valve nonetheless has its eyes on the prize…and the potential for catastrophe. Without Windows 8, the Steam Deck as we all know it might by no means exist, and Linux gaming wouldn’t be wherever close to as vibrant as it’s at this time.