Linux Gaming Marketshare Regressed So Far 2016

[Passso]

Well, the main advantage is not having to reboot.

While suspend-to-disk makes that kind of bearable, i.e. not losing your session state, it is still a kludge as you don't have access to any of your applications while gaming (or rather in between gaming sessions, in breaks, while waiting, etc).

Cheers,
_

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

[anda_skoa]

The thing is, while it is definitely possible to play on Linux, there are basically no advantages.

Well, the main advantage is not having to reboot.

While suspend-to-disk makes that kind of bearable, i.e. not losing your session state, it is still a kludge as you don't have access to any of your applications while gaming (or rather in between gaming sessions, in breaks, while waiting, etc).

Cheers,
_

[Pecisk]

They've been out for quite some time. They have bad reviews, just like the controller itself. No wonder people don't rush to buy them.

Steam Machines and Big Mode doesn't have survey implemented yet. And no, Steam Machines and Controller didn't get bad reviews. Please educate yourself and don't try to justify 'doom and gloom' attitude.

[Passso]

Being independent of Microsoft is enough advantage for me, especially when you look at where they're heading right now. But the point is:
a) Being independent is nothing instantly noticeable, but something abstract. So many people don't see the advantage.
b) Those wanting to be independent will not buy games at steam and make themselves dependent on Valve.

The reason Valve wants people to switch to linux is that it would make Valve independent (of Microsoft), not the people.

Yup, I agree. And I still think that Valve be a good competitor on the console market.
They will be as soon as < 300$ hardware will be available, and Pascal coupled with Pentium may provide this, this year.

Now a lot of you guys can whine about "people prefer Windows" , "not enought AAA games" etc. but Steam boxes compared to XBox1 and WiiU has already a lot of exclusive AAA games.

(Sony and their "exclusive title on PS4 or die and get burried" will be much harder to beat...)

[Ardje]

They've been out for quite some time. They have bad reviews, just like the controller itself. No wonder people don't rush to buy them.

Actually, it's only been a week or so since the second steam machine was availabe here.
I immediately bought the SN970, but I noticed the PC world still thinks that CEC does not exist.
If CEC worked out of the box, it would be a nice console. Now it substitutes my intel desktop.
The steam machine itself (except for the CEC flaw) is basically perfect. It's fast, it has 3GB RAM on the video card, and it is very very quiet.
Not every linux game runs though, because steamos comes without things like java (far sky doesn't work for instance), and it's hard to install it if you are not a debian developer already.
The steam controller is basically the best controller I have ever used. It beats my PS3 controller hands down in usability. It also beats my mouse with gyro aim.
But you need to learn to use it and just hope somebody has a config with gyro aim, and hope that it works on steamos the same way.

[jf33]

The thing is, while it is definitely possible to play on Linux, there are basically no advantages.

Being independent of Microsoft is enough advantage for me, especially when you look at where they're heading right now. But the point is:
a) Being independent is nothing instantly noticeable, but something abstract. So many people don't see the advantage.
b) Those wanting to be independent will not buy games at steam and make themselves dependent on Valve.

The reason Valve wants people to switch to linux is that it would make Valve independent (of Microsoft), not the people.

[birdie]

Where are triple A games? Where are exclusives? Where's marketing? Where are stable Linux distros which sport brand new hardware support out of the box? Nowhere to be found? Ah, right.

[norsetto]

This is pretty much in line with the available statistics on linux desktop usage. Why should the average Joe, quite happy in his windows ecosystem (well, he has to reinstall every so many months, but, who cares) switch to a new OS, with new things to learn, piss poor driver support, basically no AAA games available, and no support for whatever 3rd party software he is "obliged" to use?

[Passso]

They've been out for quite some time. They have bad reviews, just like the controller itself. No wonder people don't rush to buy them.

They've been out for quite some time. : false, or maybe 3 month is an eternity for you?
They have bad reviews : false, they have an average of 7/10 which is mixxed at least, very good at best

"It's a haters world"

[Ancurio]

And people still don't know how statistics work...