Is Steam even dependent on 32bit distribution packages anymore? Doesn't it ship with its own whole set of 32bit libraries? If I look at my running Steam processes currently, it's all a huge stuff of wrappers, alongside the steamwebhelper binary, which however is 64bit. So I'm not sure at all if removing 32bit distribution packages would even be a problem nowadays. Even back then, you had to convince Steam to use system libraries by using things like STEAM_RUNTIME_PREFER_HOST_LIBRARIES=0 or similar.

Doesn't flatpak solve this?

It seems like all the 32bit stuff could be wrapped in a container of some sort. Part of the issue, as I understand it, is that the Steam client itself is still 32bit. I don't understand why they are still doing that.

What happens to 32-bit Wine?

Does this affect Proton?

It’s time to rip off the bandaid and force everyone to get on the bandwagon. What’s a single reason to keep 32 bit packages? It’s dragging Linux down in general to have such zealotry about compatibility with things built in 1994