mqstout: Meh. "Steam deck certified" now means "we don't need to bother with a Linux release". Yep, as expected. Valve makes things worse again.
It's not a simple button-click for developers to port to Linux. It is quite a time investment with its own debugging added on. It's costly.
Linux accounts for 2.49% of the desktop market share as of April 2022.. Windows is 74.79%.
Developers can only devote so much resources towards a project. They can either pay employees (if it's not a single developer project) to spend a large amount of time supporting native Linux that makes up less than 3% of the desktop OS install base... Or they can work on a new project and grow their company.
I would argue that Valve/Proton are increasing the Linux user base overall.. Many windows games, for whatever reason, run better on Linux under proton than not only native wondows.. But native Linux builds as well..
The more Valve pushes into the Linux Market.. The wider the install base and they more comfortable people will become with the idea of Linux replacing Windows at some point down the road.. Once Linux has a sizeable install base.. Then you'll see an increased likelihood of native Linux builds.
You can literally install GOG windows games on Linux using Proton right now. Proton is not an emulator.. but a translation layer.. It turns api calls that point to directx into vulkan calls and such.. And it's free..
You should be championing the push to break into the Linux market. Grow the idea of using Linux as people's primary daily driver OS first.. Not just support a couple hundred of vocal gatekeepers not wanting anyone else to use their super secret esoteric operating system. (I like Linux myself but expecting the same amount of time being devoted to native builds for such a few number of users is counter productive).
The only thing I would like to see is a native gog client that leverages proton.. So you can get automatic updates, chievos etc.