Steam Deck is a Linux portable handheld game console developed by gaming company Valve that uses a lot of open source software. For example, the operating system Steam OS is based on Arch Linux, the core Linux game compatibility layer Proton is based on Wine, and there are other KDE Plasma desktop environments, Mesa graphics driver Mesa and Vulkan API.

Valve clearly recognizes that the success of Steam Deck cannot be separated from open source software and open source developers. In a recent interview with The Verge, a Steam Deck designer mentioned that Valve paid more than 100 open source developers to work on the various open source projects mentioned above, such as Proton, Mesa, and Vulkan. And other tasks such as participating in the development of Steam for Linux/Chromebook.

The designer said that Valve’s inclusion of so many open source developers is part of its overall Linux gaming strategy, and that Valve hopes to use its technical and financial clout to focus the development of these open source projects in one direction and make Linux more popular in PC gaming. A viable alternative to Windows.

Netizens also pointed out that Valve has mastered an astonishing number of open source technologies in this regard, involving graphics APIs, desktop compositors, drivers, DXVK, and shader compilers. Even Linus Torvalds has publicly stated that Valve will “save the Linux desktop.”

Others argue that Valve’s active involvement in contributing Linux and open source software has more to do with getting rid of Windows than it does with a strong dedication to the belief in freedom and open source. Either way, it’s nice that so many open source developers get paid for contributing to open source projects.