Steam's Linux Gaming Marketshare For April Comes In At Just Above 0.5%

[dungeon]

@cybertraveler

They are aware they can't do gaming console as it is, the most you can do are these so called "living room PC" category which stands somewhere in between PC and gaming console

[cybertraveler]

@cybertraveler

They are aware they can't do gaming console as it is, the most you can do are these so called "living room PC" category which stands somewhere in between PC and gaming console

[ citation needed ]

[dungeon]

There will be no separation of the playerbase at all.

What do youn mean by "at all"? He, he, that separation of userbase is in nature of PC gaming, think twice when you claim such thing.

Where is a proof that everbody on PC play games with same settings and they all have same and unique experiences, blah, blah. No, it just won't happen.

[dungeon]

[ citation needed ]

It would be already there, if that is possible AS IS but it isn't Instead you need to pick some most adequate PC which would cover most cases (with fiddling around included), but again not all

And funniest part is how once when you found that one which covers most but not all, you realise how it cost several times more Price which likely is more than just buying all popular gaming consoles like PS4, XB1 and NSwitch At the end princess is still in another castle

[Almindor]

Valve should change their pricing structure for companies that support cross-platform. Maybe 5% more for "Windows only" games. This would help justify supporting all versions.

In any case, with nearly 10% Linux/MacOS, cross-platform already makes a lot of sense.

They'd shoot themselves in the foot and probably create a windows-only competitor that every developer will jump ship to.

The sad truth is Linux will never be a gaming platform. At least not "linux-as-distro". It might become viable for gaming if someone takes over and makes a rock-solid version that stays consistent on both UI and ABI/API/library versions level to provide a stable development platform. Oh and did I mention fix all the AMD/Intel/Nvidia drivers to boot.

I'm still surprised Valve continues on this track. Don't get me wrong I'm loving it as a mostly Linux desktop user and an avid gamer. I just don't understand their business logic.

[cybertraveler]

It would be already there, if that is possible AS IS but it isn't Instead you need to pick some most adequate PC which would cover most cases, but again not all

That's a really crappy argument. It barely even makes any sense.

Of course it's possible for Valve to lock down some minimum specs and require that all Steam Console 1 games will run on a system with those specs in order for it to be advertised as "Compatible with Steam Console 1". It's not even a particularly difficult problem to solve. It is mostly a matter of design choice. If Valve want to make a games console that competes with Playstation, XBOX and Nintendo consoles then they need it to be super simple for the IQ 80s to understand how to use it.

What I am suggesting isn't even a burden for game developers. If I was a game developer I would love to have a single piece of hardware or a single set of defined specs to target my game against. It would reduce my customer support burden and would ensure a huge bulk of my players are going to have an awesome, well-tested, day 1, "out-of-box experience". It's the non Steam Console 1 users which are going to be the most problem for me. The non Steam Console 1 users have all different PCs with different hardware and different capabilities. For these non Steam Console 1 users I'll have to do a lot more testing and a lot more support. Those users will also be expected to mess around with settings to get my game to run just right on their system. For the Steam Console 1 users I can set some default settings which I know will work well for them, so my game is highly likely to work well and look good for them without them having to do anything.

Also: the hypothetical Steam Console 1hardware requirements don't have to last for all of time. At some point Valve could make the Steam Console 2 with an entirely new set of hardware requirements. This would be no more complicated for a gamer than the difference between a Playstation 3 and a Playstation 4. IE Jack can tell Bob: "you need a Steam Console 2 to run that game mate. The old Steam Console 1 doesn't run it."

If you don't get this stuff maybe it's because you have trouble putting yourself in the shoes of the kind of people that need or want this level of simplicity. Many people either don't have the time, inclination or even the mental capability to understand PC specs.

If you do have the time, inclination and mental capability to understand PC specs then it's likely that a hypothetical Steam Console 1 is never going to appeal to you because you can do more with a full PC that runs faster, has modable games and can be tweaked and upgraded by you to match your exact preferences.

[PackRat]

Got this from r/pcmasterace. Gaming on Linux.

[OneBitUser]

The above clearly isn't enough though. It needs to be easier, faster, more beautiful and more ergonomic than Windows. That's how we get them to switch... if you even want that.

i mostly agree with you, but you are making a very far-fetched assumption, namely that average users make an informed choice.

They do not.
They mostly just go with the defaults... and as long as that is Windows in most places, then users will just go along with it.

Even if users do make a choice, it is still going to be one that is heavily influenced by marketing and all other sorts of corporate BS like branding.

This would still be a huge handicap to Linux, even if the Linux community could offer a product that is perceived as superior to Windows or MacOS.
I personally believe that this is the case already.

[cybertraveler]

i mostly agree with you, but you are making a very far-fetched assumption, namely that average users make an informed choice.

They do not.
They mostly just go with the defaults... and as long as that is Windows in most places, then users will just go along with it.

Even if users do make a choice, it is still going to be one that is heavily influenced by marketing and all other sorts of corporate BS like branding.

This would still be a huge handicap to Linux, even if the Linux community could offer a product that is perceived as superior to Windows or MacOS.
I personally believe that this is the case already.

Please note that I didn't say it needed to be "as good" as Windows, I said it needed to be better. I share your view that typically users will just stick with what they are given. However I know that there is a point where a competing product can be so much better than the default, that the user will choose to put in the effort required switch. This would be because the cost of the effort required to switch would be far less than the gain of switching.

If Ubuntu, for example, was only a little bit better than Windows in every way, then I expect most users would just stick with Windows because it comes pre-installed on most computers and they have some familiarity with it. If however, Ubuntu is made to be vastly faster, more secure, more private, more compatible with their software, more easy to maintain, more beautiful to look at, more ergonomic to use, more featureful and cheaper to obtain and maintain, users will switch. We saw this happen with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome. It got to a point where Internet Explorer was so much worse than Firefox -- and later, Chrome -- that vast quantities of users decided to put in the effort to install it even though they already were familiar with Internet Explorer and it was already installed on their system. Internet Explorer and Edge have improved a fair bit since this occurrence and managed to hold onto more users, but my point still stands.

More examples:

• Email largely replaced letter writing.
• The Playstation 2 replaced the original Playstation. Think about it: if I already own a Playstation, the act of investing in a whole new system requires time, money and effort. The Playstation 2 was so much better than the original though, that users considered this worth while and many were excited to make the switch.
• Facebook replaced MySpace
• DVDs replaced VHS
• Netscape replaced video rental stores and, to a large degree, satellite TV.
• Central heating systems replaced fire places.

I agree that marketing and branding can affect the process above. If the marketing is not fairly representing a product though, then it can only create a temporary market distortion and the effects of it can only be short lived. If I want a man to believe that there is no moon, I must spend every night directing his movements, influencing his behaviour and maybe even holding a giant umbrella above his head to hide the moon. If another man wants him to know the truth -- that there is a moon -- then all he has to do is wait. If Ubuntu, or some other distro, becomes vastly superior to Windows in almost every way, then it's just a matter of time before most users switch to it. The mass switch could be delayed, sure; but it could not be averted.

Right now, Windows is superior to Ubuntu and other easy-to-use desktop distros in many ways (eg out of box driver support, popular app/game compatibility, better desktop app/game performance, ease of getting help/support).

If we make a GNU/Linux distro that is far better than Windows in almost every way, the masses will come.

[PackRat]

Right now, Windows is superior to Ubuntu and other easy-to-use desktop distros in many ways (eg out of box driver support, popular app/game compatibility, better desktop app/game performance, ease of getting help/support).

If we make a GNU/Linux distro that is far better than Windows in almost every way, the masses will come.

"The only thing that will save the Linux desktop is Valve not because of games but because Valve will make a binary that all distro's will respect and use." - Linus Torvalds at debconf14 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PmHRSeA2c8&t=690s>
He also mentions that Valve will probably use static links and Linus did not like it up accepted that needs to be done.

The Linux community doing their own thing is what the problem was in the first place. I wonder what Valve are up to with that flatpak binary solution?
Will Valve support flatpaks packed with wine?

Right now a Windows and Mac users can Install Autodesk Maya 3d animation software and BlueGriffon a Web and EPUB Editor no problem. With Linux meh convert binary with alien.... it might work search for solution blah blah Linux sucks back to Win/Mac.