… it literally contains the Steamworks SDK: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton which becomes pretty awkward to ship on your own storefront. You'd have to do a good bit of work to make Proton steam-free. No one is going to do that for 2% of the market. Just like arguing you could use Chromium and anyone who wants to make a browser can use it but realistically it creates an ecosystem around Google and for Proton, around Valve.
Don't forget that the only reason Proton even exists is because they added a version of Steam Play to Linux Steam users.
One dev does it in his spare time. I use it to run games that aren't on Steam like Ubisoft and Blizzard stuff.
But yes, as a software company you'd probably have to pay someone to create and maintain a similar release for your own use - but that's part of being a software company.
… it literally contains the Steamworks SDK: https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton which becomes pretty awkward to ship on your own storefront. You'd have to do a good bit of work to make Proton steam-free. No one is going to do that for 2% of the market. Just like arguing you could use Chromium and anyone who wants to make a browser can use it but realistically it creates an ecosystem around Google and for Proton, around Valve.
Don't forget that the only reason Proton even exists is because they added a version of Steam Play to Linux Steam users.
https://github.com/GloriousEggroll/wine-ge-custom
One dev does it in his spare time. I use it to run games that aren't on Steam like Ubisoft and Blizzard stuff.
But yes, as a software company you'd probably have to pay someone to create and maintain a similar release for your own use - but that's part of being a software company.