It's Been Three Years Since id Software Publicly Parted Ways With Linux

[bobwya]

Yeah sad times... I happen to have Gentoo ebuild for the open-sourced dhewm code (Doom3 engine) in my overlay... The folks working on it on Github have very kindly added in SDL2 and EAX audio support (one of the benefits of FOSS code). It runs stupidly well to play Doom 3, ROE, mods, etc. - unlike some dodgy (recent) game "ports". It's just such a shame that ID turned their back on Linux... Surely the departure of Carmack must improve the chances of a Linux revival!!

[duby229]

Well, it did suck, but even now those ID titles that do have native linux ports still arent available on steam, so it's no wonder they aren't paying the bills. DUH. ID's own fault in my opinion. If it isn't made available in a place where people might buy it then nobody is going buy it.

I'd -LOVE- to see an Eve Online port come back to linux. I'd buy ten plex to celebrate if they did.

[Awesomeness]

Surely the departure of Carmack must improve the chances of a Linux revival!!

id does practically everything of the engine in-house. That's why it's too expensive for id to officially support Linux. The unofficial binaries were done by an id developer in his free time and since Bathesda / ZeniMax is now in charge, all unsupported work is no longer allowed, i.e. either develop a proper port with all QA and whatnot or don't.
Many other game developers use licensed engines such as Unreal or Unity3D. Those already run on Linux.

[Kano]

It would be nice to have native Linux ports but basically Rage and other id games should run fine with Wine as there is no D3D to OpenGL translation needed. Good test for Linux GFX drivers - i played Rage (completely!) with this hack years ago:

https://forum.winehq.org/viewtopic.php?p=68035

[zerothis]

That Linux exclusive game is not silly, it's a mostly successful violation of Valve policy and website API forcing all makers of Linux games to also support Windows. There are publishers who have exclusive rights to publish Linux games (and Mac) who cannot sell their games on Steam because they do not have rights to the Windows version. Naturally Intelligent has bypassed nearly all the technical barriers imposed by Valve and put up a Linux-only game on the site. They failed to do so without having to also list the Windows software requirements, but the game is up, and there's no Windows icon attached. They are violating policy and Valve has not taken them down. But, this won't be a complete operation until it leaves early access without a Windows version. That will be the final barrier to publishing without a Windows version and, if it is allowed, Valve will have not enforced it's Windows required policy.

One should note, their's already Linux games on Steam that do not support SteamOS _and_ do not support Ubuntu (devs have stated they only provide support for Debian or Gentoo). This policy violation has so far been ignored by Valve, but didn't involve the Windows juggernaut.

Hopefully, valve will change it's policy.

[Awesomeness]

Maybe it's me but I cannot find a policy document that mandates Windows support.

[Svartalf]

Id software decided to abandon the idea of porting games to Linux many years ago, and I do not think about the unofficial games e.g. Doom 3, Quake 4 etc. They ported Quake: The Offering Quake II: Colossus, and Quake 3 to Linux, and these games were not successful among Linux users. They let some people in the company to port their games to Linux for free, and I do not think that ZeniMax Media will be interested to make similar experiments in the near future.

We have the similar situation in the case of Activision, and sometimes smaller companies made similar decisions e.g. Hyperion Entertainment.
I can easily point out many indie game companies that they removed games for Linux from their website.

We can observe that users who use Mac are in the worst situation because they have always paid for every game for Mac.

The new owner of this company maybe changes his mind after the releasing of the steam machines.

I have never been a big fan of the companies who published unofficial binaries for Linux because they wanted to use Linux users to pay for the games without the technical support. In this way, they could spend money of the Linux users on the production of their new games for Windows, and we can not blame many companies that the majority of Linux users tried naively accept this practice as something normal on the game market.

It wasn't so much that they were or were not successful (hint: They were, actually, but more on this in a bit...)- it's that they had serious fumbles.

You don't make a "patcher" for Windows SKUs to make them Linux SKUs in essence without some means to audit the numbers. Something ID did. Want to know WHY Q3:A didn't do so hot (Even though it did...)? Simple, really.

Loki Games got the support/publishing deal.
Loki Games decided that *EVERY* Linux title should have the pre-order special tin as a coming of age present.
There was a DELAY in Customs for those tins.
This delayed the official release for storefront and phone/mail/online purchase by FOUR WEEKS.
The Windows version shipped on time. Everyone couldn't wait to get the Linux SKU, so they added to the Windows numbers and patched.
Since Loki cut a quarter million in royalties copies, Id, per their contract believed they were owed that...regardless of the sales numbers by Loki.
The resulting damage from the whole thing cost Loki it's business, and gave Id and ZeniMax a skewed image of things that lasts to today.

All because of a business fumble on Loki's part and a lack of care from Id to understand it wasn't Linux, but their damn business partner.

[Svartalf]

I'll be honest, guys... These days? I'm more interested in the output from Bethesda on Fallout 4 than I am pretty much all of Id's recent stuff. Rage was visually spectacular, but it felt hollow compared to other games. Fallout 4 would be more interesting to me on Linux/SteamOS/SteamBox than the current stuff.