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Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

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Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#501

Post by protoster »

anonymars wrote: post #136
SteveNuts wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing windows has focused on has been dark patterns to force users towards cloud and figuring out more and more ways to collect data to sell ads. I’m not naive, I know a ton of huge enterprises still run huge fleets of windows “servers” but I still find it hilarious that a supposedly serious server OS would default to showing you the weather and ads in the start menu.

My favorite has to be the Windows 8 era UI disaster. How do most people log into a server? With a high-res physical touchscreen, or remote desktop? So let's make a whole bunch of functionality impossible to access, because you have to bump up against a non-existent edge of a windowed remote screen, and literally make the UI not fit into common server screen resolutions at the time. I don't remember if 1024x768 was th…

Windows struck the iceberg back in 8. It took until 11 for people to finally start to abandon ship in numbers.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#502

Post by int_19h »

Hasz wrote: post #29

Steam and Ubuntu has worked really well for me, big picture mode + hdmi switch has made for a very-close-to-console experience I am playing mostly single player campaign type games (Assassins creed, RDR2, etc) which certainly improves the picture. If steam really wanted to put a knife in games on windows, it would develop an anticheat and give it away for free. That is AFAICT the only thing keeping people on windows…

Consoles also bring a lot of headache when it comes to modding, though.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#503

Post by tmtvl »

tommica wrote: post #422
Novosell wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Games these days, just as before, are fantastic. Outer Wilds, Disco Elysium, Expedition 33, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring(Nightreign), etc. And I've not even listed quite a few of my favorites cause they're not popular enough for most people to have heard of them. Weird to say you don't game these days but also make blanket statements about games these days :p

> And I've not even listed quite a few of my favorites cause they're not popular enough for most people to have heard of them. And you choose then to NOT give those games you love more exposure and share them with the rest of the world?! I'll start: windows version of Uplink game works great in proton, and if you install uplinkos mod on it, it's a super fun Hollywood-style hacking game: https://www.moddb.com/mods/upl…

Uplink's not really a 'game these days', though, it's been around for a while. Better examples may be Digimon Story Time Stranger or Le Mans Ultimate.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#504

Post by int_19h »

pmarreck wrote: post #254
fainpul wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

macOS is by far the worst gaming platform. I think most macOS users are fully aware of that.

Baldur's Gate 3 looks absolutely fantastic on it due to the HDR rendering and high screen quality on Apple hardware though. It's sad for me as a long-time Mac fan and gaming fan that Apple has always had hardware and OS that was technically superior when it comes to gaming, but neither Jobs nor Cook ever cared about gaming except as a checkbox, so it all went to waste. The amusing thing to me is that so many producti…

The question is, how long it will be working for?

My Steam account has numerous games in it that supposedly work on macOS, but not really because they shipped 10+ years ago and weren't updated since. Some don't launch at all. Some do, but with various more-or-less-breaking bugs. Of the remaining ones, many don't advertise hi-DPI support so macOS renders them at 1080p instead of 4K.

It desperately needs a stable API for games. Which Proton could provide, except there's also that whole Apple Silicon thing meaning that x64 Windows binaries aren't easily runnable.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#505

Post by int_19h »

hamdingers wrote: post #140
TkTech wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really believe this to be an issue - Valve directly contracts CodeWeavers, they developed Proton together, and they've been pretty clear from recent hiring bursts that it was specifically to work on Proton. I have to imagine the income from Valve is exponentially higher than the relative niche of CrossOver. They're basically a subdivision of Valve now.

I'm interested in alternate explanations if you have them, to be clear this is only my theory. While Valve might make up a big part of CodeWeavers book of business now, that was not true when the original contract was signed.

The alternate explanation is that it's rather pointless to integrate it because all new Macs are ARM, and there are basically zero Windows games compiled for ARM.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#506

Post by int_19h »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #255
lokeg wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a somewhat famous post about this: https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/qeqn3b/despite_hav... Essentially stating that Linux users disproportionately care to actually report bugs they encounter rather than ignoring them. I find that very plausible.

> Essentially stating that Linux users disproportionately care to actually report bugs they encounter rather than ignoring them. I find that very plausible. In my lived experience, this 100% pure unadultered copium. It’s the wishful thinking lie that Linux people tell themselves to support their preferred choice of OS software which is, for some reason, part of their identity. Supporting “Linux” isn’t too bad in 2025…

At this point I think it's reasonable for game devs to just target SteamOS. Other distros can adapt as needed.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#507

Post by pmarreck »

int_19h wrote: post #504
pmarreck wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Baldur's Gate 3 looks absolutely fantastic on it due to the HDR rendering and high screen quality on Apple hardware though. It's sad for me as a long-time Mac fan and gaming fan that Apple has always had hardware and OS that was technically superior when it comes to gaming, but neither Jobs nor Cook ever cared about gaming except as a checkbox, so it all went to waste. The amusing thing to me is that so many producti…

The question is, how long it will be working for? My Steam account has numerous games in it that supposedly work on macOS, but not really because they shipped 10+ years ago and weren't updated since. Some don't launch at all. Some do, but with various more-or-less-breaking bugs. Of the remaining ones, many don't advertise hi-DPI support so macOS renders them at 1080p instead of 4K. It desperately needs a stable API f…

Yeah, Apple has been its own worst enemy here. Neither Jobs nor Cook are interested in gaming, so backwards compatibility for games was never a priority.

Linux has always cared about both software preservation and gaming, so it deserves to be the long-term "home" of gaming IMHO, as hacky as it is.

I just wish there was something, anything that could compete with Apple Silicon though :/

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#508

Post by nopcode »

int_19h wrote: post #499
throwaway106382 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fortnite is a problem because of kernel level anti-cheat, trying to get it work on Proton....will probably be a long time. The solution is: buy a Playstation.

What if you want to play with keyboard & mouse?

Connect keyboard & mouse to the console

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#509

Post by nopcode »

paulbgd wrote: post #392
lwansbrough wrote: post #185

Biggest hurdle for me to do this is just multiplayer games. I wish Linux would offer a solution to that. No idea what it would look like though. Contrary to most Linux advocates I’m a big believer in giving studios the tools they need to defeat cheaters and I don’t care much about system integrity if it means fairer games.

Totally agree, but it seems like competitive games have solved it. CS2 (VAC), The Finals (EAC), and Overwatch 2 (Warden) all run flawlessly on Linux.

Those all have poor reputations. There's a reason why ESEA/FACEIT has been around all this time.

Re: Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark

#510

Post by hamdingers »

int_19h wrote: post #505
hamdingers wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm interested in alternate explanations if you have them, to be clear this is only my theory. While Valve might make up a big part of CodeWeavers book of business now, that was not true when the original contract was signed.

The alternate explanation is that it's rather pointless to integrate it because all new Macs are ARM, and there are basically zero Windows games compiled for ARM.

Not likely considering Valve are working on an ARM version of proton in the open, have published test results for x86-64 windows games playing on proton-arm64ec-4, and there are credible leaks that the Steam Frame uses an ARM cpu.

If anything Valve is moving towards ARM and taking the library along with it.

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