Steam Beta Now Runs Non-Steam Windows Binaries Through Proton by Default

Valve has released a new beta build of the Steam client that brings several notable improvements for Linux users.

The headline change concerns so-called non-Steam games — third-party Windows programs and games that users add to their Steam library manually. For these Windows executables, Proton, Valve's compatibility layer for running Windows software on Linux, is now enabled by default.

Previously, launching a manually added Windows application required the user to turn on compatibility and pick a suitable Proton version in the settings. The new behavior removes that extra step: a third-party Windows binary dropped into the library is ready to run through Proton right away.

The change is available in the Steam client beta branch. Users on the stable channel will have to wait for the update to be vetted and roll out to the main release.

Source: Phoronix