Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Valve shows a drop in Linux gamers for march, but the numbers are questionable

phoronix.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 62 posts

Re: Valve shows a drop in Linux gamers for march, but the numbers are questionable

#51

Post by pjmlp »

pigsty wrote: post #44
pjmlp wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that is why Linux games hardly grow their market relevance, it is either emulating Windows, emulating game consoles, or retrogaming.

Gaming as a whole is almost entirely multi platform these days, aside from a few first party published titles. Anything playable on MacOS also works on windows. Most mid budget indie games on Windows also have switch ports. Bigger budget ones have PS5 versions. We’re at a point where you just buy what suits your budget and if there’s one exclusive that you want. It’s not like the Genesis vs the SNES where the librari…

Proton is not the same as being multi platform, and will eventually back fire OS/2 style.

Keep pushing that success market share beyond 2%, to the next 20 years and 4%.

Re: Valve shows a drop in Linux gamers for march, but the numbers are questionable

#52

Post by Jnr »

Hamuko wrote: post #38
Jnr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steam Deck is great device but it saddens me that it has a very poor game catalogue for kids (~5 years). Either the games are not there or it is very hard to find them on Steam. I wish they introduced some separate section, similarly as Netflix or Youtube Kids to solve this issue. Obviously Nintendo and mobile phones have that sorted.

The Steam Deck seems like too hefty of a device for little kids.

From what I see, not an issue for a 4 year old.

Re: Valve shows a drop in Linux gamers for march, but the numbers are questionable

#53

Post by rektide »

nicta wrote: post #50
Steltek wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A "couch co-op" section would be great for kids and adults (the existing "co-op" section has Eldin Ring as #1...) in a docked or traditional console setting. My kids love Overcooked, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, etc. This maps to how our family uses our Switch as well. It's rare for my kids to use the Switch as a portable handheld. To me, SD's incredibly wide compatibility has a ton of appeal to my kids. Java Min…

Under Narrow by number of players there's a Shared/Split Screen Co-op option. Just looking at it, the ones I'm familiar with are all couch co-op type games.

Yeah, the section is there!

Alas the pickings are just pretty slim on PC. Overcooked, Railed, Plates Up... some others. It saddens me significantly how PC gaming has gotten more and more and more 1 player 1 computer.

I also would love to see more Remote Play Together games, where other players don't need the game to play. I'm not sure if this is just one shared screen (fine) or if potentially the game can stream different things to different players (effing radical). But adoption seems quite low.

Re: Valve shows a drop in Linux gamers for march, but the numbers are questionable

#54

Post by aftbit »

Jnr wrote: post #48
aftbit wrote: post #6

Anecdotally, my peak Linux gaming was during the pandemic. I played Warframe and Overwatch in Proton at least a few times a week. Now I mostly play Call of Duty DMZ, which does not run on Proton thanks to anti-cheat, so I play in Windows. I don't have a Steam Deck though. I don't know how much that drove the player numbers. I'll bet Linux gaming gets a bump when CS2 comes out.

Linux gaming for CS2 will be relevant only when major desktop environments (Gnome and KDE) fully implement Wayland screen tearing control and adaptive sync. Overall input lag on Linux is too high for competitive shooters.

I'm curious about this. How do you reasonably measure input latency on Linux? Do you need hardware support? I am still on X11 with awesome-wm and no compositor, so I don't know much about how well Wayland handles things.

Re: Valve shows a drop in Linux gamers for march, but the numbers are questionable

#55

Post by ziml77 »

goosedragons wrote: post #7
jjoonathan wrote: post #2

Speaking of Linux gaming, how is HDR support coming along?

It's begun at least: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Valve-HDR-Linux-Gaming-Begins

Love to see it. This is currently a big sticking point for me when it comes to using Linux on my desktop!

Re: Valve shows a drop in Linux gamers for march, but the numbers are questionable

#56

Post by ziml77 »

Jnr wrote: post #48
aftbit wrote: post #6

Anecdotally, my peak Linux gaming was during the pandemic. I played Warframe and Overwatch in Proton at least a few times a week. Now I mostly play Call of Duty DMZ, which does not run on Proton thanks to anti-cheat, so I play in Windows. I don't have a Steam Deck though. I don't know how much that drove the player numbers. I'll bet Linux gaming gets a bump when CS2 comes out.

Linux gaming for CS2 will be relevant only when major desktop environments (Gnome and KDE) fully implement Wayland screen tearing control and adaptive sync. Overall input lag on Linux is too high for competitive shooters.

Are there any articles or videos going into detail on this? That's unfortunate if true

Re: Valve shows a drop in Linux gamers for march, but the numbers are questionable

#58

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

smith7018 wrote: post #24
shp0ngle wrote: post #20

Why isn't the Steam Deck selling more? It seems like a strictly better version of Switch

As a SD owner, it's only a "better" version of the Switch through the eyes of Gamers. It's heftier, more expensive, has worse battery life, a worse screen, doesn't have the dock included, and doesn't have Nintendo's back catalog. The average person buying the Switch isn't looking to buy a Linux PC that may or may not support PC games; they want simplicity.

Maybe. Remember, there was no other option to play mobile games for quite a while, so nintendo had the "exclusive". . Steam library is really big and can increase in size way faster than Nintendo by simply improving proton.

Still, I see your point.

To be fair, I don't understand how people accept the Switch controllers breaking so easily. It's really really bad. A terrible product, they always drift

Re: Valve shows a drop in Linux gamers for march, but the numbers are questionable

#59

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

Jnr wrote: post #36
smith7018 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a SD owner, it's only a "better" version of the Switch through the eyes of Gamers. It's heftier, more expensive, has worse battery life, a worse screen, doesn't have the dock included, and doesn't have Nintendo's back catalog. The average person buying the Switch isn't looking to buy a Linux PC that may or may not support PC games; they want simplicity.

Steam Deck is great device but it saddens me that it has a very poor game catalogue for kids (~5 years). Either the games are not there or it is very hard to find them on Steam. I wish they introduced some separate section, similarly as Netflix or Youtube Kids to solve this issue. Obviously Nintendo and mobile phones have that sorted.

5 years old hands are too small.

Tested with my daughter.

It just isn't made for children, which makes me sad, but it is what it is

Re: Valve shows a drop in Linux gamers for march, but the numbers are questionable

#60

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

Steltek wrote: post #49
Jnr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steam Deck is great device but it saddens me that it has a very poor game catalogue for kids (~5 years). Either the games are not there or it is very hard to find them on Steam. I wish they introduced some separate section, similarly as Netflix or Youtube Kids to solve this issue. Obviously Nintendo and mobile phones have that sorted.

A "couch co-op" section would be great for kids and adults (the existing "co-op" section has Eldin Ring as #1...) in a docked or traditional console setting. My kids love Overcooked, Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, etc. This maps to how our family uses our Switch as well. It's rare for my kids to use the Switch as a portable handheld. To me, SD's incredibly wide compatibility has a ton of appeal to my kids. Java Min…

I play many couh coop with my daughter, but yeah a section would be nice.

I essentially buy as many of those as possible to find the fun ones.

Post reply on HN