Valve's Gabe Newell Talks Linux Steam Client, Source Engine

[devius]

Damn it's hard to do a simple post today. Probably has something to do with the thousands of sites talking about steam on linux. Note to Michael: next time get a spare server or two to handle the extra load before dropping these kind of news :P

[sirdilznik]

Well, let's just say I remain skeptical. With that said, if Valve are indeed going to make a SteamBox as rumored, then it would make sense for them to base their custom operating system for said console on Linux, since it costs them nothing (in terms of licensing fees) and they can alter it to suit their needs. Basing their custom operating system on anything from Microsoft or Apple would undoubtedly cost an arm and a leg, and making a whole new operating system is impractical when you have an existing, mature, open source operating system you can work off of.

[RussianNeuroMancer]

Nobody should get their hopes up about this until there is official word from Valve.

Isn't this official enough? http://www.sevendaycooldown.com/site/episode001/ (10:55). What you need?

[Hamish Wilson]

If this is true, I am actually a little worried that it will hurt Desura and everyone else who is supporting us already. I could see Valve muscling in and grabbing all the spotlight away from the Indies, who have been doing some fantastic work and who started keeping the faith a lot earlier than Valve would have.

Do not get me wrong, I welcome Valve's overtures if they are genuine. But I do not want to lose what we already have in the face of something new. Hopefully I am just worrying unduly.

[Larian]

Isn't this official enough? http://www.sevendaycooldown.com/site/episode001/ (10:55). What you need?

No amount of evidence will ever be enough. Even if Gabe Newell himself posted their intent to develop a Steam/Source client for Linux on the company website, you would still have idiots prattling about "It's only vaporware until they ship it, so it's not 'official' yet."

Too many naysayers have invested too much time and face into insisting Steam for Linux was a lie. Like religious zealots, they can't get over themselves and admit they were on the wrong side of the truth.

Personally I've always taken the "Steam for Linux? Cool. I wish they'd hurry" approach.

[RussianNeuroMancer]

If this is true, I am actually a little worried that it will hurt Desura and everyone else who is supporting us already.

I too, but look at what we have:
Desura - open source client, DRM free (Steam sometimes used as DRM). We can launch games directly, without running Desura client.
Gameolith - deb and rpm packages, some services for developers. They maybe launch repository for customers.
Ubuntu Store - already have millions of users, and available in Ubuntu out-of-the box. Game updates as system updates - Desura and Steam doesn't have that.

So I think everything will be fine, don't worry.

[Imouto]

If you can make a .deb, you can package it pretty much anyway you want.

There is this thing called Linux, and in this Linux they have these communities, and in these communities they have helpful people who know what to do....

What's the point if there is no choice?

Second this. Unlike Windows upgrade, Linux have a very decent compatibility across versions.

Most likely, Valve may not choose .deb. Like desura, their client and games may use custom installers. They can have their own installer (a .sh will do), which basically put their binary files in specified folder (can be home folder).

This has advantages. We don't have to worry about loss of games when re-install systems and we don't have to worry about different distros.

[Sofox]

I'll still stand by that the original phoronix posts were inaccurate and misleading, and at the very least deserving of apology. Nothing was confirmed back then, none of the so-called release timeframes were proper, and the dead horse was beaten for about 2 years. Even now, all that's shown are some desktops - something I rather suspected Valve to do internally, but still nothing indicative of official support. No actual quotes from Newell himself. Nothing official. UT3 was more official than all this at one point, and look how that turned out.

Phoronix made the "It's official" announcement based on an article from a UK Newspaper, specifically The Telegraph. The article in The Telegraph stated: "Valve has also confirmed that it will make Steam available to Linux users in the coming months." (you can see it here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolog...goes-live.html ).

[psycho_driver]

Isn't this official enough? http://www.sevendaycooldown.com/site/episode001/ (10:55). What you need?

"right now I'm, uh, hanging out, uh, with a group of people who are working on linux. You know, and, uh, I just lift up my desk on its wheels and move it into the elevator and take it down, and that's what I'm working on right now."

I need a press release from Valve stating "Steam and * are coming to linux! Projected release date of XX/XX/XX!" We knew they were working on it two years ago when all the BS started, but they obviously had no intentions of releasing it at that time, as Gabe made clear in an official statement in (I believe) August of 2010. I have no doubt that there is an internal linux steam client (I've seen it) and I don't doubt that they have L4D2 up and running in linux, what I do feel far less confident about is if it will ever materialize. There was a working UT3 client too, but we never saw it and never will. Same with the WoW client. Probably a dozen other high profile titles out there that had linux clients that we don't know about (wasn't there a rumor about a Crysis port?).

Seriously people, just go back two years and look at the steam articles on this site and the eventual official press release from Valve stating that they had no plans to release anything for linux. Before that you can look at the obscene amount of shilling being done for ATi GPUs by Michael when, at the time, they were a far inferior choice for linux compared to an nVidia card. I enjoy the hardware benchmarks on this site but all the other articles are tabloid quality.

[johnc]

I know we like to give Michael chit from time to time, but you've got to give it up... When the head of Valve wanted to get the word out, he asked Michael to come out to HQ to get the scoop. So yeah, he's the man.


My only concern from all this news is whether or not Valve is going to maintain relevance in the future. The impression I'm getting is that Apple and Microsoft are looking to push Valve and Steam out of the market altogether. And they could very well be successful at that task.