I don't have a writeup but the main highlights have been
1. Loki Entertainment [0] (1988-2001), a third-party porting company that licensed games and released them for Linux
2. Linux Game Publishing [1] (2001-2009), basically continued what Loki was doing
3. id Software used to release their games for Linux and open source the engines [2]
4. Others (mostly Indies) also had Linux ports, but it was still rare: Frictional (Penumbra series, Amnesia), 2D Boy (World of Goo), ... and Wolfire Games who created:
5. Humble Indie Bundle [3] (2010-) incentivized many popular Indie games to be ported to Linux - initially all Bundles where 100% cross-platform between Windows, Linux and OS X.
6. Steam for Linux [4] (beta 2012, 2013-) - with the lure of Steam Machines many more developers jumped onto Linux ports, including some larger Publishers as well as porting companies: Aspyr, Feral Interactive, Virtual Programming (eON)
7. GOG.com Linux support [5] (2014-)
8. DXVK, Proton (2018-) making it easier to play Windows games
There was also Kickstarter where for a while most big ones had Linux support promised in some form. Also Unity adding Linux exports has made it possible for tons of games to be ported (although not without issues). I probably forgot some things, but at least that should be a lot you can read up on.
account42|5 years ago
1. Loki Entertainment [0] (1988-2001), a third-party porting company that licensed games and released them for Linux
2. Linux Game Publishing [1] (2001-2009), basically continued what Loki was doing
3. id Software used to release their games for Linux and open source the engines [2]
4. Others (mostly Indies) also had Linux ports, but it was still rare: Frictional (Penumbra series, Amnesia), 2D Boy (World of Goo), ... and Wolfire Games who created:
5. Humble Indie Bundle [3] (2010-) incentivized many popular Indie games to be ported to Linux - initially all Bundles where 100% cross-platform between Windows, Linux and OS X.
6. Steam for Linux [4] (beta 2012, 2013-) - with the lure of Steam Machines many more developers jumped onto Linux ports, including some larger Publishers as well as porting companies: Aspyr, Feral Interactive, Virtual Programming (eON)
7. GOG.com Linux support [5] (2014-)
8. DXVK, Proton (2018-) making it easier to play Windows games
There was also Kickstarter where for a while most big ones had Linux support promised in some form. Also Unity adding Linux exports has made it possible for tons of games to be ported (although not without issues). I probably forgot some things, but at least that should be a lot you can read up on.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loki_Entertainment
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Game_Publishing
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Id_Software#Linux_gaming
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble_Bundle
[4] https://store.steampowered.com/news/9943/
[5] https://www.gog.com/news/gogcom_now_supports_linux