Steam for Linux Beta

[mrhanman]

I got into the Steam for Linux Beta, and it naturally occurred to me that AI War, AVWW, and Tidalis aren't on that platform.  I searched the forum and found a post from more than two years ago that indicated the lack of Unity support of Linux as the main reason a Linux port doesn't exist.  Well, it seems like Unity supports Linux now, so is there any chance with Valve pushing Linux if there is any chance we'll see a proper port?

[keith.lamothe]

Unity's support for porting to linux is still a work-in-progress, at least according to the page you linked.  But yes, we're aware that a final version of it is coming and we're certainly interested in officially supporting that platform

Which games get ported will depend on how hard it is to get through whatever bugs they run into on whatever official version of Unity supports a linux standalone build.  Iirc, Tidalis, AIW, and AVWW are all on different versions of the Unity engine so it will be a separate call for each.  Tidalis in particular would need to be an easy port since we couldn't really expect significant revenue in a response.

[TechSY730]

I for one would be grateful for both Steam and AI War/AVWW/Tidalis/et. al on Linux.


Hopefully the Steam guys are smart enough to allow the Windows downloads for programs when a Linux version of it is not published, and be able to just pass it along to Wine but otherwise launch it normally.

But from what I have seen, those Valve guys are pretty darn good programmers too, so I fully expect they would at least consider something like that.

[zespri]

Linux.... uhm. Yeah. I'd like to love linux and use it as my mine OS, but simply, there is not enough stuff running there. Even with games - everyone support pc/mac but linux support ususally not worth it if it's not something trivial. So today, in 2012 relevance of linux support for a game I'd say quite negligible. I'm surprised valve decided to waste money like this.

[icepick37]

How things are today isn't a good gauge for the future. I think it's a long-term play. Also it's mostly a political move to pressure MS to not be too stupid with Win 8. Which will hopefully work, haha.

[mrhanman]

I believe there are enough Linux gamers out there to justify a Linux port.  Valve obviously thinks the same.  The rumored Steambox will run some variant of Linux.  Plus, if you already have a Mac OS X version of your game, in many cases your work on a Linux port is halfway done.  When Unity finalizes its Linux version, the door will be open for many more games.

Personally, the only reason I use Windows at all is because of the games that aren't playable under Linux.  As soon as a significant portion of my library is playable on Linux either natively or via Wine, I'll be kissing Redmond goodbye.

[keith.lamothe]

So today, in 2012 relevance of linux support for a game I'd say quite negligible. I'm surprised valve decided to waste money like this.

While I don't know how much of it represents "wouldn't have bought if didn't support linux", over 14% of the humble bundle sales to date have been flagged as linux (source).

If the actual increase in sales was only 4%, I think Valve would easily make back its money on the start-up effort involved in under a year.

[zespri]

I believe there are enough Linux gamers out there to justify a Linux port.

Unfortunately I can't find it now but I saw statistics somewhere. Linux figure was less then 1% (when PC/Mac/Linux) where compared.

[icepick37]

Well the figures will vary wildly between games anyway. (shrug)

The real question is NEW sales the port would generate. Which probably wouldn't be many honestly. But it's just a guess on my part.

[chemical_art]

Well the figures will vary wildly between games anyway. (shrug)

The real question is NEW sales the port would generate. Which probably wouldn't be many honestly. But it's just a guess on my part.

This.

Linux I think is around 5% of the total base [citation needed*]

However, how many additional sales would occur, and how many would be cannibalizing another sale is another matter altogether.

Wikipedia: ...Primarily based on web server statistics, various companies estimated that the desktop market share of Linux range from less than 1% to 4.8%.[92] In comparison, Microsoft operating systems hold more than 85%..

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Well the figures will vary wildly between games anyway. (shrug)

The real question is NEW sales the port would generate. Which probably wouldn't be many honestly. But it's just a guess on my part.

This.

Linux I think is around 5% of the total base [citation needed*]

However, how many additional sales would occur, and how many would be cannibalizing another sale is another matter altogether.

Wikipedia: ...Primarily based on web server statistics, various companies estimated that the desktop market share of Linux range from less than 1% to 4.8%.[92] In comparison, Microsoft operating systems hold more than 85%..

Yeah, that sounds about right. It's what I guessed the other day when a friend asked about how much market share each OS has.

[Aklyon]

Also, Steam would need to work on something besides Ubuntu. Mint perhaps?

[Mánagarmr]

Also, Steam would need to work on something besides Ubuntu. Mint perhaps?

Optimally it should work on any Linux distribution, but in order to do that they'd have to release the source, and I don't see that happening

[mrhanman]

It already works on other distributions.  Archlinux, for example.  I'm sure there are others.  I imagine as things develop, Valve will officially support the most popular ones.

[keith.lamothe]

Yea, it seems to me (though I could be wrong) that any kind of broad linux support would need to be a "meet me halfway" situation: the app developer doesn't do anything awful to mess with compatibility and officially targets the more popular flavors and makes sure it really does a good job there, and the OS developers of the other ones need to provide a platform that's at least functionally similar to the more popular ones in the areas that count.  Otherwise it takes an already "will this actually recoup costs?" port decision rapidly into the realm of diminishing or negative returns.