alt Hacker NewsWine might be oddly self-defeating. Broad game support on Linux increases the viability of Linux as a desktop, which increases market share, which may result in developers creating Linux ports as a 1st class concern, which don't need Wine to run.
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I actually think it'll be the opposite. Even for games that have native ports I pretty much always run the Windows version with Proton, since that just tends to be more stable. People develop against the Windows API because it's familiar and somewhat unchanging, and that's fine since Proton does such a good job running it.
I don't think this is a big concern. There will still be plenty of demand for Wine even with a decent catalog of Linux-native games. People use Wine for things other than games, and even if tomorrow every single new game had a native Linux port, people would still be playing older Windows-only games for at least another 20 years, probably more.
Also the Windows ABI is still more stable than the Linux ABI. Even if Linux (non-SteamDeck) gaming share went up to like 50% or more, it still would probably be less of a hassle to build for Windows only, the performance difference on Linux+Wine isn't enough to matter.
This is the very definition of "a good problem to have."
It seems more likely to me that the Windows API will become the de-facto Linux gaming SDK, and the idea of porting a game to Linux will become meaningless.
There always will be old games that will never be ported to Linux.
Quiet the other way around. Wine being good will reduce incentives for game studio to produce native Linux ports.
If you game/app runs on Wine, doesn't that reduce the pressure to develop a Linux port?
Unlikely. Games need a stable ABI and Win32 is the only stable ABI on Linux.
A solution to itself
Gotta get there somehow.
If I had a guarantee that every windows application that is important to me runs on Wine I would switch next day. Now I use Windows to develop both - Windows and Linux applications even when primary running mode for application is business backend on Linux
It's interesting when old Windows games run better in Wine than in actual Windows 10/11.
Wine's APIs are more stable than Linux's APIs, so it seems more plausible to me that Wine will become the first class target itself.