Proton Finally Gives Steam Machines a Viable Game Library

Valve's relaunched Steam Machine runs SteamOS, a Linux-based gaming OS. The original 2015 version failed because few games ran natively on Linux. Proton—Valve's software layer that lets Windows games run on Linux—now handles most popular Steam titles without friction. The Steam Deck has proven this approach since 2022, making the new Steam Machine's software foundation far more credible than its predecessor's.