On linux, for gaming? Not any better than Proton.
On Mac? I have no personal experience but I believe it’s good there.
I’ve only used CrossOver on Linux and actually find it harder to use than Lutris. There’s some crazy stuff like needing to declare environment variables inside a configuration file instead of having a GUI for it. But if you look at CodeWeavers’ blog and release notes, you’ll see them constantly making changes to improve gaming on macOS. That’s where they seem to be devoting most of their energy these days. CrossOver on Linux worked for Microsoft Office when I needed to use it, but that was the only reason I bought it.
I still think it was a worthwhile purchase, if only to support further Wine development. CodeWeavers has a great article about the differences between CrossOver and other Wine distributions: https://www.codeweavers.com/blog/alasky/2019/3/21/wine-crossover-and-proton-whats-the-relation
PlayOnLinux is no longer under active development (even Phoenics seems to have been stale for a while now), and Steam’s Proton, Lutris, or Bottles are what you should use on Linux nowadays.
Do not use PlayOnLinux, it’s dead and doesn’t work. Use lutris an/or steam…
Bottles works pretty well
Just what I came to say. Heroic launcher and bottles are my go to. Have not had much luck with Lutris on the Deck.
Crossover and Wine are the OG compatibility layers for Windows gameplay on Linux, and while I can’t vouch for either one now, as Wine is the only one I used–back in the days of the original Unreal, I can say now that Steam’s Proton is fairly straightforward and simple. Pretty much, unless it has some sort of anti-cheat malware, like BattleEye, everything “just works.” … and usually, if the game employs anti-cheat, and they catch you playing (fairly) on Linux, you’re usually banned.
