Linux Gaming Marketshare Regressed So Far 2016

[sarmad]

I think Valve did mention that the survey doesn't show up in BPM, this basically excludes all the steam machines from the results.

[johnc]

Except that the guys that actually make a living from porting games for linux, like feral, say that they make money.

When the AAA studios are targeting Linux then we'll know that the numbers are viable.

Until then you can call me a troll and people can claim the Steam survey is all a load of false data, etc., etc. Whatever makes you feel better about the facts.

[sarmad]

When the AAA studios are targeting Linux then we'll know that the numbers are viable.

Until then you can call me a troll and people can claim the Steam survey is all a load of false data, etc., etc. Whatever makes you feel better about the facts.

http://boilingsteam.com/sales-figures-to-generate-profit-with-linux-ports/

As long as they can keep porting cost low they should be profitable, and those numbers don't include Steam Machines for which we have no figures yet.

[blackiwid]

1 the only thing that could make that statistics go up would been the steam machines, and they dont count like some people.

At least in this short time period nobody will "switch" to linux by installing it manualy.

If I have a working windows 8 machine... wth would I know make me the work on that machine and switch it to linux?

When first dx12 games come out I could not have or my windows break, maybe I consider it to install but till then of course not. And I am very keen with linux. A normal desktop user is not, and he will never install any os, not even windows on his machine. Most windows users never have installed windows on their machine.

Pre installed systems is the only way to grow noticable in market share, and if the survey dont messure steam machines... its completly information free random numbers that have exactly 0 meaning.

Selling numbers of games under different plattforms if that would be messured would be much more interesting, cause people who use steam dont neccesary buy software. Others buy 200 games... so such person is signifantly more interesting than as example me.

[jacob]

I would add : no antivirus, antispyware, antimalware
and more generally : automatic management and updates

These are all generic advantages of Linux, but when it comes to gaming, reality is somewhat different. Steam and the games themselves are proprietary binary only software and I see no reason to believe that the Linux builds would be less laden with spyware than the Windows versions. They are generally less well supported and less frequently updated than on Windows. As for rebooting... well, when playing Metro Redux on Linux, I unfortunately reboot quite a lot, courtesy of the universally broken gpu drivers (it got a lot better with Mesa 11.x though, but there is still a very long way to go). So as much as I hate to admit it, I currently see no advantages to Linux over Windows *as a gaming platform*.

It may change thanks to Vulkan, since Linux seems set to have first class support from the start. Even so, what Linux would desperately need would be some popular and highly desirable game as an exclusive. This doesn't necrssarily mean a big-budget "AAA" title. But currently, playing on Linux means essentially that you will see no difference with Windows.... if you are we very lucky. That makes it a non-starter.

[Passso]

These are all generic advantages of Linux, but when it comes to gaming, reality is somewhat different. Steam and the games themselves are proprietary binary only software and I see no reason to believe that the Linux builds would be less laden with spyware than the Windows versions. They are generally less well supported and less frequently updated than on Windows. As for rebooting... well, when playing Metro Redux on Linux, I unfortunately reboot quite a lot, courtesy of the universally broken gpu drivers (it got a lot better with Mesa 11.x though, but there is still a very long way to go). So as much as I hate to admit it, I currently see no advantages to Linux over Windows *as a gaming platform*.

I do not really share your opinion, I find Steam on Linux a complete and simple way to play. (but I only use blob drivers and LTS distros, so I may not experience so many bugs)

On the pure gaming point of view, Windows is the clear winner on all sides, but looking more globally: for simple management and time saved I really do prefer Linux, even if the game list is shorter.

[jacob]

I do not really share your opinion, I find Steam on Linux a complete and simple way to play. (but I only use blob drivers and LTS distros, so I may not experience so many bugs)

On the pure gaming point of view, Windows is the clear winner on all sides, but looking more globally: for simple management and time saved I really do prefer Linux, even if the game list is shorter.

Yes, Steam on Linux is good when it runs well on your system. My point is the likelihood of running into problems in this context is still much higher on Linux than on Windows. BTW the issues I had with Metro were with a blob driver, namely Catalyst. It runs a lot better with the recent mesa driver. (Don't bother preaching nvidia to me. It has its own share of monumental problems)

[anda_skoa]

These are all generic advantages of Linux, but when it comes to gaming, reality is somewhat different.

These are the kind of advantages that might make people pick one platform over another, so one or more might have been the reason someone is Linux right now.

This is rather orthogonal to the original question of "why play on Linux", because if you are already running Linux, for whatever reason, playing on something else either requires a second machine a rebooting.

So I think the primary reason a Linux user would have for wanting to play on Linux is not to have to switch machines or operating systems just for the game.

As for rebooting... well, when playing Metro Redux on Linux, I unfortunately reboot quite a lot, courtesy of the universally broken gpu drivers (it got a lot better with Mesa 11.x though, but there is still a very long way to go).

Sure, but this is a kind of reboot that should not happen and even if it unfortunately means you are losing your session state you are still in the environment that has all your applications and data.

Rebooting in the sense of dual-booting can even keep your session state if you suspent to disk and the boot the other system, but you still swicth into an environment that has just the game.

The only viable approaches for gaming on Windows as a Linux user are either virtualization or a second physical machine.

But currently, playing on Linux means essentially that you will see no difference with Windows.... if you are we very lucky. That makes it a non-starter.

Well, for a Windows user, sure.
But it is a big difference for a Linux user and those are the target market for playing on Linux, no?

Cheers,
_

[jacob]

These are the kind of advantages that might make people pick one platform over another, so one or more might have been the reason someone is Linux right now.

This is rather orthogonal to the original question of "why play on Linux", because if you are already running Linux, for whatever reason, playing on something else either requires a second machine a rebooting.

So I think the primary reason a Linux user would have for wanting to play on Linux is not to have to switch machines or operating systems just for the game.


Sure, but this is a kind of reboot that should not happen and even if it unfortunately means you are losing your session state you are still in the environment that has all your applications and data.

Rebooting in the sense of dual-booting can even keep your session state if you suspent to disk and the boot the other system, but you still swicth into an environment that has just the game.

The only viable approaches for gaming on Windows as a Linux user are either virtualization or a second physical machine.


Well, for a Windows user, sure.
But it is a big difference for a Linux user and those are the target market for playing on Linux, no?

Cheers,
_

From this point of view, sure. I also like the convenience of being able to launch a game, play for 20min as a break and then resume work, seamlessly. But the point of my post was that for the hardcore gamer kind, who has been using Windows, Linux has currently nothing to offer.

Ironically, I found that the best gaming experience on Linux often comes from Wine. For example, one of my favourite titles, STALKER, runs like a charm under wine through the windows steam client. So much so that I never bothered booting into Windows to play it.

[anda_skoa]

From this point of view, sure. I also like the convenience of being able to launch a game, play for 20min as a break and then resume work, seamlessly. But the point of my post was that for the hardcore gamer kind, who has been using Windows, Linux has currently nothing to offer.

Ok, then I simply didn't understand the original statement.
For me it made no sense to consider a situation where one would use Windows as their normal OS and Linux for gaming, so I interpreted that as advantages for someone already using Linux.

In which case the obvious (at least from my point of view) advantage is that you don't require any other machine or setup.

Looking for advantages or the lack thereof for a Windows user to use Linux for gaming sounds highly academic to me.

Cheers,
_