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

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

#31

Post by jgtrosh »

jermaustin1 wrote: post #20
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.

The stats might be measured differently: Steam might not report a Linux user as such if they played on Windows at first (or something like that), while the tickets might be correctly labeled as Linux-specific by the user.

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

#32

Post by boomlinde »

dcbadacd wrote: post #2

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

I read it more as an admission that they underestimated how hard it is to a game to work consistently across Linux graphics drivers. The user reports are used as a metric, not to damn the users.

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

#33

Post by swish_bob »

warmwaffles wrote: post #24

Also I wonder how many of those crashes would have happened in windows or mac. I suspect the code is shared and would have happened.

"gfx driver related" code is unlikely to be shared between Windows, Linux and OSX ...

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

#36

Post by pjmlp »

Ologn wrote: post #18

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.

This comes up all the time by people that usually lack Android developer experience, specially with the NDK.

Nothing on the Android app stack exposes the underlying Linux kernel to app developers.

Yes it is possible to access certain paths or syscalls, however none of them are part of the public API nor guarantee to work across devices.

Only OEMs have direct contact with the underlying Linux kernel, which could be replaced tomorrow without any issues for app developers, e.g. Fuchsia.

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

#38

Post by AnthonyMouse »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #34
projectramo wrote: post #22

The conclusion I draw is that we should raise linux game prices by 200x

Except Linux users want all their software to be free.

Maybe the game devs should do like RedHat and release the Linux version for free but charge for support.

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

#39

Post by wil421 »

>There is no denying that there are plenty of issues with some parts of Linux, but still I believe it will become predominant gaming platform, especially in the more "appliance" space. It is worth investing in the know-how early.

Bold claim to make. I doubt Linux will ever be a predominant gaming platform.

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

#40

Post by code_duck »

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?

If that .1% was using a specific version, I’d conclude the quality of that version was far lower than the mainstream offering.
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