Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets • Hacker News Board

Re: Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets

#11

Post by dcbadacd » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:46 PM UTC

Ajedi32 wrote: post #5

dcbadacd wrote: post #2

This sounds like complaining about users being able to report bugs.

In this case it sounds like the bugs were mostly Linux-specific ("gfx driver related").

Reading the thread it seems this all happened a while ago:

> The world of 2014 Linux graphics drivers was not a friendly place. We absolutely encountered issues where some driver revisions only worked on certain distros, and AFAIK we did not use anything specific to a Linux distro.

About the same time Chromium project found a lot of GFX bugs and created a lot of workarounds but when I disabled all of them now in 2019, they don't seem to exist. Anecdotal experience but I think things have improved and it wouldn't be this hard any longer.

Re: Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets

#12

Post by TremendousJudge » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:47 PM UTC

diffeomorphism wrote: post #7

https://twitter.com/bgolus/status/1080544133238800384 Follow-up tweet by the same author: > As a follow up to this, I've been told by those actually involved with Linux stuff that this wasn't true. I probably just stopped paying attention to Linux issues at a time when everything was broken. Just so the discussion does not overly focus on the (apparently wrong?) numbers.

This is a follow up to another tweet though

Re: Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets

#13

Post by ShakataGaNai » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:48 PM UTC

While I love Linux, I think this is a totally fair "state of the union". At the end of the day, gaming or kickstarters or similar... are a business. You need to figure out your ROI (Return On Investment). It doesn't many any logical sense to spend a huge amount of time on a platform that nets you tiny amounts of sales (and gains you a huge amount of support costs).

This is why gaming on the Mac is only now starting to be a real thing. Not a decade or so ago, there were still relatively small numbers of people using a Mac. It cost a lot to develop for a new platform and didn't make much money. Now it makes more sense.

Of course Linux fragmentation will probably hold it back for significantly longer.

Re: Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets

#14

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:48 PM UTC

> Issues specific to Linux were almost entirely graphics driver related, and unique to the platform.

Just want to point this out before this discussion starts blaming the devs for 'not writing with portability in mind' or other such nonsense like the twitter thread did.

Re: Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets

#15

Post by mrspeaker » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:48 PM UTC

This is just an out-of-context tweet (well, the context is there - it's a reply to another tweet, which is out of context)... so perhaps it was just auto-crash reports, but I wonder if you get more tickets from Linux users, because Linux users are more likely to file tickets?

When something crashes on my partner's computer she yells at it and restarts it. When something crashes on my computer I spend an hour trying to figure out WHY. If I can't figure it out, I log a ticket thinking I'm being a good citizen!

Re: Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets

#16

Post by anonymfus » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:49 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #6

How do they measure the 0.1%? Many times I've purchased games because of the promised Linux support, and played it on Windows until the promised Linux support arrives.

Judging by its Wikipedia article this game had Linux support since the beginning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_Annihilation#Release

Re: Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets

#17

Post by jenscow » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:49 PM UTC

SteveNuts wrote: post #3

Gaming is the #1 reason I haven't fully switched to Linux on the desktop at home (at work I exclusively run Linux). A lot of my Steam games work flawlessly with Linux but others will just silently fail to launch and it takes hours to properly diagnose and fix, which isn't what I'm after when I get some time to play games.

Your comment is the perfect example of how there's an "invisible" demand demand for gaming on Linux.

Nobody can see it, because those who want it will mostly make do with Windows.

Re: Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets

#18

Post by Ologn » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:49 PM UTC

I should note Android runs with a Linux kernel. It has been estimated that games like Pokemon Go have made over $1 billion on revenue from Android devices - larger than its revenue from iOS. Candy Crush Saga, Clash of Clans, Dragon Ball Z etc. do well on Android as well. So the "would totally skip Linux" advice is not heeded by every company for every platform.

Re: Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets

#19

Post by bluGill » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:50 PM UTC

brianwawok wrote: post #4

dcbadacd wrote: post #2

This sounds like complaining about users being able to report bugs.

Do you run a business, say software? Or even a non-technical business like window washing or pet walking? If .1% of your pet walking clients made 20% of the complaints, what would you do?

Depends. Sometimes the complainers are telling you about issues that everyone else doesn't like about you, so you better fix those issues, otherwise the other customers will leave to someone else. Other times those complainers are just complainers who will never be satisfied and I'd fire those customers. Generally it is a mix so you need to read and consider every complaint.

Re: Game dev: Linux users were only 0.1% of sales but 20% of crashes and tickets

#20

Post by jermaustin1 » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:50 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #6

How do they measure the 0.1%? Many times I've purchased games because of the promised Linux support, and played it on Windows until the promised Linux support arrives.

I'm sure it is measured by number of installs or downloads. Either way the statistic is still very telling. If 0.1% of installs/downloads/purchases created 20% of the bug reports, I can understand the developer's frustration.