I tend to buy more games on steam lately since i play with my steam deck very often and also plan to switch to linux on my main rig since microsoft is getting worse and worse. Also i can preserve games on steam as well either if they are drm free or with goldberg and steamless. Hopefully they change their stance on windows only but as for know steam will get most of my money

Just to be sure, you do understand that one doesn't need a client to launch games on Linux, right?

My next PC build will never see WIndows. Windows 11 is just a further descent into bloated, gated off, suspect "features" and even more telemetry and phoning data home for me to be comfortable with, so I am in agreement.

Additionally, Steam sunsets support for old Windows OSes, so staying on Windows 10 with my massive Steam library doesn't seem like a viable long-term strategy (I've used administrative options to lock my Windows version and prevent the Windows 11 "free upgrade").
I love GOG's installation packages that I can still obtain to throw on my old Windows XP and 7 PCs, but I actually use Galaxy on my current Win10 system and would also enjoy that convenience on my next PC.

My purchase habits are rather store-agnostic, but now, if a newer game doesn't run on Linux or Steam Deck, at least at the "playable" level, I will not purchase it. I've also ditched live service games and have never paid for Denuvo DRM games but that's another story.

Linux use is growing, and I'm actually glad Steam is using a bit of market muscle to push toward alternatives to Windows:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/linux-hits-3-percent-client-pc-market-share

Yeah plus with the programs i have listed i wouldnt even need the steam launcher. Also the the whole divinity and bg3 games are drm free from the get go as well on steam.

Heroic Games Launcher is a good alternative, it handles the GOG library and games from Epic Games store (minus there client).

Linux is mostly held back because of its collective of ideas. Its like an operating system if it were Twitter. The idea behind it seems reasonable, but the people are the problem. It devolves into madness and nothing gets done.

As much as any flavor of linux appeals to me. I get pretty annoyed at having to cobble together everything. Just to make 1 thing function, yet need 20 more things or break 20 others.

I literally would not be able to use Win11, even if I wanted it, due to an unstable internet connection. But then again, Linux needs so many extra packages to even use basic programs....that too, requires the internet. Which is ironic. For poor people with little bandwidth or no internet.

Funny. With offline windows(not win11) flavors. Users can at least use public internet locales to get a package, and bring it home via memory device. Linux.....not so much. On a side note, I have a linux machine. Its just a horrible experience trying to use it for most of my games. Especially offline.

Another idea for linux, would be linux on usb. I have that too. Its ok for casual stuff, but gaming? Pretty pointless for my needs.

It would be nice to have a functioning GOG Galaxy client for Linux, if only for the netplay. I don't even need a UI, a really basic command line version would do it. GOG Planet?

Running it in Wine is not a great experience. It's pretty sluggish.

Edit: nevermind, I wasn't even here.

They really should! Preferably one that doesn't rely on the GTK. Dunno when you last tried Linux, but it certainly isn't this "constantly repairing a sinking ship" you've painted it out to be.
What distro are you using, Gentoo or Slackware?

Off the shelf plain jane, Ubuntu. Kubuntu. Manjaro. Also a few others, but I would not conjure falsehoods about Linux in general being a total mess. I dont explicitly mean broken. I mean, just having to keep track of 50 gazillian details and no unifying thing that works as simple as downloading 1 thing, that does not require a mess of other files and packages. Windows may be bad, but with most programs. One can use a zip or executable and not question if it will take extra steps to get it working.

Never going to use win11, so unless MS decides offline use case is good again, I see nothing of value in any OS in the foreseeable future. Which kind of sucks for many people.

i dont think its needed, if you need a launcher there are some options out there. i think the installers are fine.

It is definitely required for multiplayer in many games.

in that case wouldn't it make sense to get that specific game on steam?

No, because the Steam version would come with the draconian requirement to be online in order to access the single player portion of the game. And you'd still need a client.

If there were a Linux build of Galaxy, GOG would start tying features of Linux games to Galaxy use like they do for Windows games.

I would much rather stay with the current situation, at least I know I can trust Linux games sold here to be (mostly) DRM-free.