It may be heresy, but at that point, just run the Windows version over the linux one, yes.
The amount of games that:
Have linux builds,
that run noticably better than the Windows executable through Wine/Proton
yet require 32-bit linux libs,
in 2026?
Must be zero, or close to it.
Besides, I love the meme that “Wine is a better gaming platform than native linux, or native Windows.” There’s something so satsifying about robbing Microsoft’s own API with such wild success.
I don’t think it’s heresy, but I do think there’s value in devs shipping native Linux builds. It’s a Mindshare thing. If devs never target Linux they won’t build with Linux in mind.
But as a user, it’s fine to use whichever version gives the best performance.
If devs never target Linux they won’t build with Linux in mind.
Won’t they?
I posit this:
Windows gaming will die. Slowly.
Devs will target Proton more and more explicitly.
…Until development is basically exclusively targing Wine/Proton, on Linux.
It’s easy to laugh at that as a meme, but does Windows seem sustainable now? Is there any sane “single target” for game devs other than Proton? Is it not the path of least resistance, by an order of magnitude? Hence I think that’s legitimately what will happen.
And I do wonder what the “point” of Wine will be overall if we ever get to the point where the majority of users are on Linux.
Nothing! If Windows parity isn’t a concern, they don’t have to develop anything. They can leave Wine how it is, and everything just works! In fact, keeping it as a stable API would be less of a headache for apps that target it.
WINE becomes a “universally compatible linux API” that happens to be backwards-compatible with Windows executables.
What’s more, they could add whatever features and fixes they want, unbound by Microsoft. Game studios could even PR the project, I suppose.
I’m not sure that would ever happen, though. Business users will be stuck with Windows forever, hence parity with Windows desktop apps will remain a goal.
It may be heresy, but at that point, just run the Windows version over the linux one, yes.
The amount of games that:
Have linux builds,
that run noticably better than the Windows executable through Wine/Proton
yet require 32-bit linux libs,
in 2026?
Must be zero, or close to it.
Besides, I love the meme that “Wine is a better gaming platform than native linux, or native Windows.” There’s something so satsifying about robbing Microsoft’s own API with such wild success.
I don’t think it’s heresy, but I do think there’s value in devs shipping native Linux builds. It’s a Mindshare thing. If devs never target Linux they won’t build with Linux in mind.
But as a user, it’s fine to use whichever version gives the best performance.
Won’t they?
I posit this:
Windows gaming will die. Slowly.
Devs will target Proton more and more explicitly.
…Until development is basically exclusively targing Wine/Proton, on Linux.
It’s easy to laugh at that as a meme, but does Windows seem sustainable now? Is there any sane “single target” for game devs other than Proton? Is it not the path of least resistance, by an order of magnitude? Hence I think that’s legitimately what will happen.
No, you definitely have a point. An increasingly valid one, I might add.
And I do wonder what the “point” of Wine will be overall if we ever get to the point where the majority of users are on Linux.
Nothing! If Windows parity isn’t a concern, they don’t have to develop anything. They can leave Wine how it is, and everything just works! In fact, keeping it as a stable API would be less of a headache for apps that target it.
WINE becomes a “universally compatible linux API” that happens to be backwards-compatible with Windows executables.
What’s more, they could add whatever features and fixes they want, unbound by Microsoft. Game studios could even PR the project, I suppose.
I’m not sure that would ever happen, though. Business users will be stuck with Windows forever, hence parity with Windows desktop apps will remain a goal.