Linux Gamers Make Up ~2% Of Valve's Steam Users

[acm2117]

i wonder how they actually figure which os to count for dual booters like myself... i default to linux unless i am playing bfbc2 or red orchestra 2 ( which i hope a linux port will be released for soon).... all my games like tf2, dods, beat hazard, oil rush, etc that have native linux versions i have installed on my mint linux 14 box and uninstalled the windows version. for the past year or so i have only purchased games with the intention of playing them on linux. i hope i am being counted as a linux user. over half my game time is in linux now due to valve. i have had an off/on relationship with linux for 15 yrs and valve/steam has turned it into an everyday relationship.

[silverslimer]

Most people probably noticed how crappy the selection of games for GNU/Linux is at the moment. They'll migrate to the operating system once the library improves, I'm sure of it. However, we're also dealing with the fact that when it comes to gaming on G/L, people are introduced to the confusion that is getting the game to work right:

1) Proprietary or free drivers?
2) Why is the game not working / How do I install the 32-bit libraries? Why weren't they installed in the first place?
3) Ubuntu sucks, can I use anything better?

For most people, it's best to just stay in Windows if games are a priority.

[hajj_3]

April's statistics are out now, it looks as though the linux market share has dropped again.

[ryao]

Actually, Linux is standing at 2.84% if we include "Other" which I suspect is Steam counting wine usage and/or some other linux distros.

If "Other" is Wine usage, then Mac OS X, Solaris and FreeBSD probably also fall into that category.

[yogi_berra]

This looks like an Amateur freeware game. Do they actually charge money for this?

Why the hell not? People are willing to give Cleveland Mark Blakemore money for his vaporware that started development before Dolly was cloned.

[nightmarex]

If you failed to notice, open standards are usually displace "closed" ones, given enough time.
1) IBM has made IBM PC as open archtecture. So anyone can make devices for them and anyone can create a clone. Then IBM PCs conquered whole world and nearly eliminated most of closed competitors. While it's debatable is it has been huge success for IBM itself, it has been clearly an epic win for x86 arch, intel and so on.
2) Now we can see epic DX vs OpenGL battle is about to complete. And winner will be OpenGL. You see, most of mobile devices and web, two leading industry branches have chosen OpenGL over anything else. Well, because DX is closed. New members are just not welcome on this party. So there was no other options. In fact MS doomed their own future by their own closed policy. They doomed competing standard to become popular because anyone who is not MS and wants to earn money have to resort to competing standards like OpenGL. And it's exactly what happens here and now. iPhone? OpenGL. Android? OpenGL. Web? WebGL. Linux? MacOS? OpenGL again. And it even works on Windows. So it looks much better idea to learn OpenGL these days

In fact, most "exclusive" proprietary "standards" where some vendor attempts to have ultimate domination over others have perished in favor of more friendly ways of doing things. Because it's quite hard to conquer whole planet and there will be strong demand for competing standards. That's what exactly happens these days. I guess future will be very interesting thing to see .

So we're in GL vs DX round 3? GL won early, lost late and is going to win super late? Eh, I think DX is too entrenched if we see it displaced there has to be a catalyst (not the AMD driver) beyond just android, mac OS, or Linux. Game makers need to start doing what they do with consoles and access hardware direct... Interestingly with AMD on all fronts for next gen, this may just be applicable. EGL is prime for such a move.

[Triv00ett]

This is one install of Steam running in its own Crossover bottle.

[RealNC]

The game 10 Million hits Linux (Steam) tomorrow http://www.gamingonlinux.com/article...this-week.1831

This looks like an Amateur freeware game. Do they actually charge money for this?

[liamdawe]

The game 10 Million hits Linux (Steam) tomorrow http://www.gamingonlinux.com/article...this-week.1831

[0xBADCODE]

I very much agree with you, although I am more cynical regarding #4.

Steambox could be a huge success because it could be both PC and console. Dedicated consoles are quite redundant in my opinion. Of course the masses of consumers can disagree with that and keep thinking that dedicated console is the way to go.

Steambox might become to consoles what Betamax was to VHS. A superior platform with marginal userbase. I truly hope that does not happen.

If you failed to notice, open standards are usually displace "closed" ones, given enough time.
1) IBM has made IBM PC as open archtecture. So anyone can make devices for them and anyone can create a clone. Then IBM PCs conquered whole world and nearly eliminated most of closed competitors. While it's debatable is it has been huge success for IBM itself, it has been clearly an epic win for x86 arch, intel and so on.
2) Now we can see epic DX vs OpenGL battle is about to complete. And winner will be OpenGL. You see, most of mobile devices and web, two leading industry branches have chosen OpenGL over anything else. Well, because DX is closed. New members are just not welcome on this party. So there was no other options. In fact MS doomed their own future by their own closed policy. They doomed competing standard to become popular because anyone who is not MS and wants to earn money have to resort to competing standards like OpenGL. And it's exactly what happens here and now. iPhone? OpenGL. Android? OpenGL. Web? WebGL. Linux? MacOS? OpenGL again. And it even works on Windows. So it looks much better idea to learn OpenGL these days

In fact, most "exclusive" proprietary "standards" where some vendor attempts to have ultimate domination over others have perished in favor of more friendly ways of doing things. Because it's quite hard to conquer whole planet and there will be strong demand for competing standards. That's what exactly happens these days. I guess future will be very interesting thing to see .