Kinda misleading.
First of all, games do not have to be on Steam & launch through Proton to be able to run on Linux. Wine hs gotten extremely good too, even if it may require a bit more tinkering in comparison.
It's also not like this because of the Deck. Proton has been on a good run for several years now, which was very much evident based on the stats on ProtonDB. The Deck helped more with popularity & spread of Linux, rather than actual compatibility.
And those unsupported titles are almost all competitive multiplayer games. Regular multiplayer titles that are mostly PvE focused work usually fine under Linux.

I suspect the Steamdeck and Steam machines were the main motivations for Valve to put as much resources behind Proton as they did.

No they did it for the money, steam deck isn’t a good handheld, it can become outdated in a few years, Linux hacks is a real possibility, etc.

No real reason for Steam deck existence other than money.

Well, I mean… of course, yeah? They’re a private a corporation, they want to make a profit on anything they do. But the idea is the Steamdeck with Linux on it is worthless if it doesn’t play games, hence why so much money was poured into Proton to make the Steamdeck a desirable and profitable object.

Saying it’s not a good handheld because it will become outdated is like saying every laptop in existence is bad because it will eventually become outdated. You sacrifice upgradeability for portability.

Technology can be upgraded and Valve chooses to make the deck a worst version of handheld. Just look at other handheld, less problem with holding and more gameplay experience. Proton doesn’t solve the linux gaming issue, companies are more willing to lose the Linux platform for protection of their games.

Gaming in Linux shouldn’t become this bad, one company controls the entire reason for the Linux platform, there should have been more if not better ways.

The other handhelds cost more, and usually have worse battery life.

Proton has absolutely solved the chicken and the egg problem. There’s a big enough audience on Steamdeck that many devs of online games have flipped the switch to allow their anti-cheat to work under proton.

there should have been more if not better ways.

Linux gaming was stagnant for over 20 years, what would you have done differently?

The other consoles are built for gaming and offering features that Valve hasn’t even announced for such. Moreover the steam deck being locked in the Steam ecosystem doesn’t help the “solved problems”. One company that is known for greedy developers is in control of Linux Proton.

It’s clear what should have happened, the steam deck shouldn’t have existed. Valve the billionaire company should’ve offered better alternative or find better hardware. We have computers in the size of a credit card and they decided a brick with unnecessary specs with uneven screen size is the best? They clearly didn’t care anything but cheap hardware and software that is free. The steamOS isn’t open source and you people are letting Valve make their money on free software.

The other consoles are built for gaming and offering features that Valve hasn’t even announced for such.

Such as? Also are you implying the Steam Deck wasn’t built for gaming?

Moreover the steam deck being locked in the Steam ecosystem doesn’t help the “solved problems”. One company that is known for greedy developers is in control of Linux Proton.

You do know that you can install any launcher in the Steam Deck, right? Even Tim Sweeney praised this feature and he bad mouths Valve on almost everything.

Also, Proton is open source, anyone can fork and develop it independently of Valve. See “Glorious Eggroll”.

It’s clear what should have happened, the steam deck shouldn’t have existed.

What should have existed then?

Valve the billionaire company should’ve offered better alternative or find better hardware. We have computers in the size of a credit card and they decided a brick with unnecessary specs with uneven screen size is the best?

You’re just nitpicking now. The form factor isn’t ideal but it’s appropriate for running a full fledged PC.

They clearly didn’t care anything but cheap hardware and software that is free. The steamOS isn’t open source and you people are letting Valve make their money on free software.

OK, so what should they have done then. Please enlighten us.

The keyboard is awful, want to type something? You better press on the screen or have physical keyboard. One hand holds the steam deck the other requires touching the screen. Shouldn’t have to come to such annoying conclusions, oh and takes like a good portion of the screen like any android phone. The answer is the deck should not be bigger again the bigger device is the issue not the software offered by another company that only made it for desktop computers. You don’t hear android users complaining about their keyboard.

No you can not install any launcher, MMO games are going to block it. Genshin Impact blocked it, stop with the fake information.

SteamOS is not open source, Proton is a copy of wine. Valve has no business controlling your product but people are okay with it and the whole thing is mess up. A group believes in Corporate than Linux is not the future of Linux gaming.

No there’s nothing appropriate about your entire hand to hold on to brick sized plastic with good chance of breaking the glass. The usb for physical keyboard or mouse is poorly designed as you need it to power the device itself. Making people buy bluetooth devices is just speaking cheap or laziness in the design. You can’t make this stuff up, Valve thought a few extra plastic was too much or something. Oh the controller you know the thing gamers have to play the game. Well can’t recharge and use controllers if you’re using cables and were forced to buy/use bluetooth versions. A lot of batteries are used and throw in the trash because of Valve cheap design.

The “repair kit” is not easy and can break the hardware or system. Oh and Valve clearly never intended to be repaired because the battery and other components are tricky stuck in place. Android batteries and iPhones don’t have such problems but Valve took the cheap way for profit.

You can type on the deck using the touch pads. It’s easy.

Genshin didn’t block it, the launcher is just a Windows-only kernel level rootkit. Like most other launchers that don’t work.

SteamOS it’s planned to be released to the community separately sometime.

Proton is a FORK of wine.

Physical keyboard and mouse is easily done through a dock.

Your whole batteries and controller rant is just wrong and stupid.

Your repair concerns are also wrong and stupid. I replaced the entire shell of my steam deck without breaking any part.

You really seem to hate the steam deck in a way I can only characterize as irrational and pointless.

What you say isn’t entirely true, just because you can do it doesn’t mean others can. The repair to replace batteries is stick to the hardware. Loosely attached pads that Valve admits they were broken, etc.

Valve is a known liar, we have enough lawsuits where they lied about everything. They lied to AU gov, EU gov, USA gov and user base of TF2. You can not trust them with something like SteamOS becoming Open Source, it’s been a year and refuses to do anything.

Don’t try to think fancy words is better or something magical. Copying a software to only focus on games is still the same function of Wine. Infact Linux users often have better chances at Wine than Proton which disproves it’s a different function.

My point stands has anyone tried to use wireless devices. It’s not fun to randomly get problems that Linux can’t fix. Drivers for the devices are not good enough to be used. Yet you claim there’s nothing wrong with it?!? Oh and we shouldn’t forget how useless it becomes when using portable chargers because unless you’re spending $1000 in a real charger, the average person will have a charger with nearly no speed for depleted batteries. A whole lie people like you claim never happens but science doesn’t care about your own personal opinion.

There’s nothing worth believing or pretending to care about the Steam Deck, stop promoting and protecting the billion dollar company and learn to think for yourself.