IIUC that DRM involves kernel level tricks and attestation, which means it'll basically never happen. Online gaming looks similarly doomed.

Denuvo anti-tamper DRM doesn't use kernel level tricks, it's all userspace and works just fine on Linux/Proton. It's the kernel level anti-cheats that don't work on Linux. And some user level anti cheats (like AntiCheat Expert) that only work on the Steam Deck as they check the CPU/GPU of the system and refuse to work if it's not the one in the Steam Deck (which also means those don't work on platforms like the ROG Ally).

Plenty of online games work fine. Rocket League, Squad, Arc Raiders etc. are just the ones that I play.

In the case of those which use EAC/EOS they need to be explicitly approved to run under Wine/Proton by the developer. There are some cases (eg. iRacing) where the developer refuses to enable support for whatever reason, and on those we’re still stuck.

It's not just 'running under Wine', it's a different anti-cheat with different capabilities and the same name.

It's like comparing Office 2024 Excel on Windows to Excel for iPad. They're both called Excel, and share basic features, but once you start using features like VBA, it will not run on iPad Excel.

Also does it even work in Wine? Last I checked EAC only worked in Proton with the env variable to enable it being PROTON_EAC_RUNTIME

That doesn't even work properly on x86 Wine, so ARM is pretty much hopeless right now.

That is false. Denuvo DRM works on Linux and has for many years.

I didn't say it doesn't work at all, but it's been problematic. An example:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/05/denuvo-will-lock-you-o...

That issue only happens if there are other issue with the game unrelated to denuvo on wine which requires trying different prefixes resulting in the DRM locking you out. Its the fault of the horrible DRM.

Denuvo DRM works on Linux and has for many years.