Linux Gaming Was Great In 2016, But 2017 Should Be Even Better

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Linux Gaming Was Great In 2016, But 2017 Should Be Even Better

Most of you will probably agree that 2016 was the best year yet for Linux gaming with having a ton of new game releases, several of which were AAA game titles, the premiere of Vulkan is an important step for the future, Valve working on Linux VR efforts, and the Linux graphics drivers getting into better shape for handling the next era of Linux games...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=2016-Linux-Gaming-Recap

[L_A_G]

2016 may have been a great year for gaming on Linux, but what worries me right now is how empty Feral's upcoming releases page is. I know it's supposed to be cryptic as all hell to avoid legal troubles between Feral and the publishers of the games they're porting over, but it's pretty thin on games right now. Right now there's only two games on the furthest away category and I think a couple of games on the list actually completely vanished recently.

Let's hope it's just publishers not wanting Feral to put their games on that page no matter how cryptic it is, rather than anything more worrying...

[Mike Frett]

I hope it's not just VR we see in 2017...

[rabcor]

Our only problem is dropping numbers of Linux Gamers... Although when we're talking about numbers this small we can basically chalk it up to people taking breaks from games or going on vacations or some such.

To get more gamers to want to use Linux, Linux is gonna need a big feature that makes gaming more enjoyable that Microsoft wouldn't make. Any ideas?

[cj.wijtmans]

Make Linux-gaming Great Again. MLG-A

[aht0]

Our only problem is dropping numbers of Linux Gamers... Although when we're talking about numbers this small we can basically chalk it up to people taking breaks from games or going on vacations or some such.

To get more gamers to want to use Linux, Linux is gonna need a big feature that makes gaming more enjoyable that Microsoft wouldn't make. Any ideas?

At the moment (immediately after Christmas) amount of gamers should be at it's highest. It's usually at it's lowest over June-August.

Problem with Linux gaming is not precicely lack of gamers but annoying bugs you do not have to put up with while playing same game on Windows. And the fact that addressing such bugs seems to take fucking forever.

[Unklejoe]

Our only problem is dropping numbers of Linux Gamers... Although when we're talking about numbers this small we can basically chalk it up to people taking breaks from games or going on vacations or some such.

To get more gamers to want to use Linux, Linux is gonna need a big feature that makes gaming more enjoyable that Microsoft wouldn't make. Any ideas?

I think the "big feature" in this case would be straight up better performance than Windows (even if it's by 1 FPS).

People (especially gamers) love comparing numbers, even if they ultimately have very little real-world impact on the overall gaming experience (IMO, at least).

This is why you'll see people spending hundreds of dollars to upgrade their graphics card just to go from 80 FPS to 93 FPS.

If Linux started outperforming Windows by even a small margin, I bet serious gamers would start migrating. Then, there will probably be a "trickle down" effect where more casual people start migrating.

I know it seems like the Linux community has been saying this sort of thing for years, but I do think there's been some great progress made since I've started using Linux about 7 years ago. I'm a casual Linux user, and probably not experienced as some of you guys on here (I grew up using Windows), however, I think the mainstream Linux distributions are finally at a point where the barriers to entry are reasonable. It's no longer a ridiculously hard process to install Ubuntu and get a system up and running. In fact, it's been fairly seamless for me over the last few years. Things are finally getting to the point where they "just work".

Of course, there will always be the "chicken and the egg" issue, and simply outperforming Windows is much easier said than done, especially at a time where Linux support plays second fiddle.

[Azrael5]

It's desirable that gaming developers begin to realize games using native opengl and or vulkan so to match the maximum platforms compatibility possible.

[Shevchen]

Quite some friends playing for over 15+ years on Windows only are interested on Linux, esp. as it went from "command line only" towards "After an hour or so I'm set", who are just waiting to kick off Linux for gaming. There are onhly 3 issues for them (from my limited sample size)

- What driver/config shall I take for my hardware setup?
- Where are all my convinient tools (recording/streaming, preset-overclocking and system tools like a custom fan-curve for CPU/GPU)
- I have no idea how to fix xyz

Thats about it. Other than that, people are VERY interested in Linux gaming, even if the performance is 30% less, as long as it reaches 60 FPS on the preferred setting.

[aht0]

Quite some friends playing for over 15+ years on Windows only are interested on Linux, esp. as it went from "command line only" towards "After an hour or so I'm set", who are just waiting to kick off Linux for gaming. There are onhly 3 issues for them (from my limited sample size)

- What driver/config shall I take for my hardware setup?
- Where are all my convinient tools (recording/streaming, preset-overclocking and system tools like a custom fan-curve for CPU/GPU)
- I have no idea how to fix xyz

Thats about it. Other than that, people are VERY interested in Linux gaming, even if the performance is 30% less, as long as it reaches 60 FPS on the preferred setting.

performance regressions are tolerable. System freezes and game crashes are not, nor are simple "it should just work" actions leading to freezes and crashes. Like trying to use a weapon with a zoomed sight. Stuff like this happening on a regular basis is total fun/game breaker. And possible also that OS breaker when it happens often enough.

Another issue is variety of linux distributions/versions around, patchwork nature of 'em, combine it with near endless combinations of hardware... what you get is support nightmare from the point of view of developing studio. At best, what you are ever going to get is: "we support distribution xxxx, version xx" or "here is your Linux client but you are on your own with it."