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It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

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Re: It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

#61

Post by superkuh »

deng wrote: post #23

Yes, that's why you still have these 'ubuntu_12' folders in the Steam installation, since they have never updated this in the past 9 years. So in reality, native Linux development has pretty much failed, and they have put all their money on Proton. That is probably the right decision from a business perspective, but it's pretty much a defeat nonetheless.

Not so much failed as it was never a real thing in the first place. Valve supported steam machines and linux gaming so they could fend off Microsoft's attempts to monopolize all gaming with proprietary executable formats like in the windows store. Every time MS starts this up again Valve will wave around the linux/steam machine flag until it stops and then they go back to not caring about linux.

Re: It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

#62

Post by deng »

hn8788 wrote: post #37
deng wrote: post #23

Yes, that's why you still have these 'ubuntu_12' folders in the Steam installation, since they have never updated this in the past 9 years. So in reality, native Linux development has pretty much failed, and they have put all their money on Proton. That is probably the right decision from a business perspective, but it's pretty much a defeat nonetheless.

I think it was Supergiant Games who said that because Proton is good enough, they're don't plan to provide native Linux versions of their games in the future.

I think it's pretty much impossible now to create a modern game with the Steam runtime:

https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-runtime#default-tools

Re: It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

#63

Post by bluecatswim »

LegitShady wrote: post #50
cma wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They allow you to generate steam keys (at no cost to you) and sell them on your own website. Only if you charge the same as Steam, i.e. you can't pass the 27% (still pay payment processing) savings on to customers, unless it is a limited time sale.

Well yes, they don't want you to generate code sand then sell for less than you sell at steam because that's a suicide level business model for them. But you can still sell the codes yourself without cost to you. I don't understand why what you're saying is relevant.

I know devs who do free giveaways through steam keys once in a while so presumably there is a provision in place for that too.

Re: It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

#64

Post by Sebb767 »

MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #25
DeathArrow wrote: post #17

>Steam on Linux after opening up access to everyone was seeing around a ~2% marketshare prior to falling with the setbacks in Linux gaming. But ever since Steam Play (Proton) was introduced in 2018, it's begun rebounding. This past month it set a new multi-year high with a 1.13% marketshare for Steam on Linux after surpassing the 1.0% mark this summer. From 1% to 1.13%. Isn't it glorious?

Since Linux only has between 1-2% market share of desktop operating systems in total, that 0.13% increase is a reasonable proportion of the Linux users out there. So not too bad I'd say.

Quite a few people cite games (and software) as the reason they don't switch, so hopefully that 0.13% are converted people and not work-only users that started gaming.

Re: It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

#65

Post by edflsafoiewq »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #36
alex_smart wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't it be? What were you hoping would happen?

Presumably, they were hoping for native Linux support.

Going through a shim is better. It allows you to modify the open-source shim to analyze and patch the closed source game. This is why Proton can release fixes so fast.

It also lets each party care about the natural thing for them: gamedevs care about windows and do a good job writing windows code; winedevs care about linux and do a good job writing linux code. Gamedevs don't care about linux so their native linux code is crap.

Re: It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

#66

Post by TulliusCicero »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #36
alex_smart wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why wouldn't it be? What were you hoping would happen?

Presumably, they were hoping for native Linux support.

Unrealistic for most games, there just aren't enough users.

With Proton now, there's probably more games playable on Linux than MacOS, even though the latter as far higher uptake among consumers.

Re: It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

#67

Post by johnny53169 »

superkuh wrote: post #61
deng wrote: post #23

Yes, that's why you still have these 'ubuntu_12' folders in the Steam installation, since they have never updated this in the past 9 years. So in reality, native Linux development has pretty much failed, and they have put all their money on Proton. That is probably the right decision from a business perspective, but it's pretty much a defeat nonetheless.

Not so much failed as it was never a real thing in the first place. Valve supported steam machines and linux gaming so they could fend off Microsoft's attempts to monopolize all gaming with proprietary executable formats like in the windows store. Every time MS starts this up again Valve will wave around the linux/steam machine flag until it stops and then they go back to not caring about linux.

> then they go back to not caring about linux.

So they care so little about Linux they are going to release a subsidized console using Linux next year? Give me a break with your cynicism.

Re: It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

#68

Post by squarefoot »

thrower123 wrote: post #29

I think it is incredible that after all these years the best target for Linux gaming is still a Windows compatibility shim.

The Windows user base is too large, and the cost of maintaining two versions is too costly for most publishers to even think of making two versions. They instead learned how to write Windows games that can be easily run under Linux with no or minimum effort. Once a significant number of people will transition to Linux because they have enough apps/games that do what they want under Linux, and the gain in stability, privacy and cost is worth the migration, major games being written only for Linux may become a reality. Although this would require many years, Microsoft has been well aware for a long time, and it's the main reason they already aimed at taking control of Linux before it was too late (WSL, VS Code, Edge for Linux, etc), and it's very likely we'll see a Microsoft branded free only as in beer Linux distribution soon. Unfortunately, I'm 100% sure they will succeed.

Re: It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

#69

Post by TulliusCicero »

LegitShady wrote: post #52
vadfa wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's like netflix/etc in that regard.

Its not a subscription service, so that's a strange analogy.

I'm kind of surprised it doesn't have a subscription service yet. Seems like an obvious way to go, and Game Pass seems to have been fairly successful.

Re: It‘s been 9 years since Valve rolled out the Steam Linux beta

#70

Post by debaserab2 »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #59
peatmoss wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from a few games purchased on GoG, everything I buy is on Steam. It’s been a very consistent experience for a long time. My first Steam “purchase” was me plugging in the CD code from a copy of Half-Life purchased ~1999. Everything I’ve purchased since then is playable in minutes—most of it playable on Linux. The killer feature of Valve / Steam for game developers is customer trust. For me, that trust has transl…

Considering all the broken or neglected games on Steam I've lost trust in them. GOG has started slipping in quality as they've grown, but at least they strive to host playable games and without DRM. Competition among stores and hosting is good IMO, even if a modest inconvenience.

Platform loyalty in gaming has always struck me as an odd phenomenon. You don't hear people raving about netflix or hulu being superior, but for some reason there is a huge fanbase for Steam itself.

I mean, I don't mind steam, but I'd really prefer to have software that I purchase not check with a gate keeping entity before launching itself.

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