The EU’s investigation into the Microsoft – Activision deal has been so meticulous that they have put some study into compatibility layers like WiNE. The EU has interesting things to say about what effects WiNE and Proton has to the business of PC gaming.
In paragraph 665 on page 167 of the EU decision on the deal, the EU notes that “compatibility layers do not seem to be an effective tool for delivering high-quality gaming on non- Windows OS.” They elaborate further in paragraphs 704 to 705, on page 167 of the decision.
“However, the Commission considers that, while compatibility layers can indeed be a tool for bringing more PC games on non-Windows OS, as also pointed out by respondents to the market investigation, they are subject to certain limitations and, in any case, do not constitute an effective instrument to effectively bridge the gap in games availability between Windows and non-Windows PCs.
Furthermore, and in connection to this, compatibility layers do not seem to have an impact on the uptake of gaming on non-Windows OS.
Indeed, notwithstanding compatibility layers, as already mentioned above, more than 95% of games on Steam are played on Windows PCs, indicating that Windows is still by far the most used PC OS for native gaming. Moreover, several market participants pointed out that, while compatibility layers are becoming increasingly capable of providing a native gaming experience, they are still subject to technical limitations, including in terms of performance and audio-visual quality.
Furthermore, some market participants pointed out that a significant number of games are unplayable via compatibility layers, mainly due to the implementation of anti-cheat solutions. A market participant also pointed out that adding a compatibility layer can decrease the performance of the system by adding further complexity, sometimes significantly degrading game play.
Furthermore, and in any case, compatibility software does not appear to be a solution for bringing some of the Activision Blizzard’s most important titles to non-Windows OS. Call of Duty titles, for example, do not work due to technical reasons due, also in this case, to anti-cheat software.
In this regard, a provider of PC OS submitted that certain games, especially recent AAA games, can only be played on non-Windows OS via cloud gaming.”
All of this transparently refers to SteamOS, as gamers use it on the Steam Deck. But, it must be said, that this partly applies to MacOS too. WiNE, and its Valve fork, Proton, have both done wonders in increasing the potential compatibility of Windows games to both Linux and MacOS. It is a selling point of the Steam Deck that most gamers will find that much, if not most, of their Steam library will be made compatible on the Deck thanks to these compatibility layers.
However, as the EU correctly observed, it is not a perfect and definitive solution to the compatibility problem. Many games still don’t work outside Windows because WiNE and Proton are not enough. The EU noted the main culprit is anti-cheat, but the fact is that there are also plenty of other games that just aren’t compatible even without anti-cheat, or third party account systems or clients.
In some cases the devs still need to step in and put in some extra work to make the games playable on Steam Deck. And, as Mac players can tell you, using WiNE on Macs is even worse. WiNE hasn’t matured (pun not intended) on the platform, and as a result, even compatible games see compromises in performance.
For these reasons, the Steam Deck’s success in providing an alternative to Windows as a gaming OS has some hard limits. Steam Deck players themselves know full well that their devices can’t really fully replace their gaming PCs.
For all it’s worth, it is still astonishing that what was originally a tool only used by a small group of hackers and developers who had the knowhow to make it work, has now gone so far that it has a tangible effect on the video game industry. WiNE’s original developers must surely be proud about that.
