Valve has done some good things for the game industry: they encouraged modifications, and made some good games.
However, I feel as if the gaming community praises Valve too much.
- The gaming community praises Valve’s monopoly on game distribution services.
That’s about it though.
It seems like everyone forgot that Proton (aka Steam Play) is forked off of Wine, which is a project that’s been around for more than a decade. Proton wouldn’t even be possible without Wine. That is not to discount Valve’s contributions, but it is a bit tiring to see Valve get all the praise especially combined with corporate worship.
I think Valve’s main contribution was to push DXVK as the main driver of Linux graphics. It’s a huge game changer.
It’s a symbiotic relationship: Valve benefitted from years of accumulated knowledge in the Wine project and now contributes to it. I hope more companies do the same.