In a sad turn of events, but not exactly surprising, the President of Blizzard responded to the petition calling for Blizzard to support Linux, the answer is obvious, but what's sad is the response from the petition creator.
Here's the official response to Blizzard not being on Linux:
QuoteI certainly appreciate your passion and enthusiasm around this. Those are some great comments that you have included below, but the numbers just aren’t there right now. Linux usage represents less than 2% of installed desktop operating systems browsing the web, and I would assume most of those people also have access to a Windows or Mac device capable of playing Blizzard games.
We will continue to monitor the growth of Linux, but it is very unlikely that this will be something that we pursue in the near future.
I think we all saw that coming, but here's the sad part, in public directly below this the petition owner said this:
QuoteI am not sure just what the hell Morhaime is smoking but obviously he needs to stop or change to a different plant. How can he say we are under 2% when there is no concrete evidence to prove it. He also can not seem to grasp the fact that the reason why some of use are stuck using Windows is because of Blizzard and not because we love using Windows.
One thing is for sure, I am gonna have to work harder if I am going to break through that thick head of his.
Will keep you posted.
That's a perfect way to make sure Blizzard never respond to that petition again. This also gives them fuel to continue to not support us, if that is the attitude of people who try to represent us.
I think we all need to ask ourselves what Andrew (the petition creator) "is smoking". It was a perfectly reasonable response from Blizzard, and I didn't even expect Blizzard to respond until the petition was much bigger.
Blizzard, we aren't all like this, and please do not think that person speaks for us, as they do not. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
<snip by editor>, I'm sticking to valve and the entire rest that does not have a windows-only-fetish.
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Crazy Penguin Mar 11, 2015
LOL! Really? We are back on this now? 2% would mean a minimum 2 Million potential Linux customers (based on Steam numbers), which is quite a market share. But what do I care. Blizzards isn't making good games anymore.
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Delete me!
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[quote=tony1ab][quote=liamdawe][quote=Yaakuro][quote=liamdawe]
Lets try to be honests. In South Corea starcraft is a national sport. And WOW has had 10 millions of active accounts.The insane amounts of money they surely have would have given them more than enough money to contract a third party, who could make easily the port, as many other companies with less money than them are doing.
And, from 2% percent, as you say when we read some Steam survey results, that would become more of 1 million of more sales.
So from those 2 facts, my conclusions are
-They have more than enough money to do it.
-They would win money with the operation.
So:
-They dont do it because they dont want to.
No, I dont respect Blizzards decision.
But put that simple. If they dont release games for my OS, then I wont play their games.
Quoting: YaakuroWe respect Blizzard's decision.
Lets try to be honests. In South Corea starcraft is a national sport. And WOW has had 10 millions of active accounts.The insane amounts of money they surely have would have given them more than enough money to contract a third party, who could make easily the port, as many other companies with less money than them are doing.
And, from 2% percent, as you say when we read some Steam survey results, that would become more of 1 million of more sales.
So from those 2 facts, my conclusions are
-They have more than enough money to do it.
-They would win money with the operation.
So:
-They dont do it because they dont want to.
No, I dont respect Blizzards decision.
But put that simple. If they dont release games for my OS, then I wont play their games.
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Quoting: Crazy PenguinLOL! Really? We are back on this now? 2% would mean a minimum 2 Million potential Linux customers (based on Steam numbers), which is quite a market share. But what do I care. Blizzards isn't making good games anymore.
*sigh*, going over this argument in IRC right now.
That 2% is an over-estimation, by a lot.
Lots of people (like me), already own their products. You can also be guaranteed a large portion supporting the petition and forum post also already sub to WoW/own other products by them.
The realistic number is far lower.
Edit > Let's cut it in half to 1% for the more likely number of people to actually get their products, based on all that + their heavy DRM a lot of people don't like.
Cut it down again for pre-existing owners and WoW subs from Linux users, and we have a low number.
Remember, we aren't talking about 1-2% of Blizzard's existing big user base here.
You need the developers, you need the support staff, you need to pay them, constantly, and not just once too. You also need extra time for Q&A on the platform, so Q&A staff need pay and time too.
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Quoting: liamdaweQuoting: Crazy PenguinLOL! Really? We are back on this now? 2% would mean a minimum 2 Million potential Linux customers (based on Steam numbers), which is quite a market share. But what do I care. Blizzards isn't making good games anymore.
*sigh*, going over this argument in IRC right now.
That 2% is an over-estimation, by a lot.
Lots of people (like me), already own their products. You can also be guaranteed a large portion supporting the petition and forum post also already sub to WoW/own other products by them.
The realistic number is far lower.
Yes, many people already own their products, but I suppose they intend to release more games in the future.
And more and more people are dumping Windows for good (thanks to Valve...). I have not touched a Windows PC for more than one year now.
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I don't know if it's because I have a EU account, but I can't even post in that forum thread. I did get Diablo III when it was released, but I've since stopped using Windows altogether and I'm done with Blizzard until they release anything for Linux. If I need a Diablo "fix" I can play Torchlight II instead.
I agree that talking down on developers/publishers for not supporting Linux is extremely unproductive though. No one is getting rich by making games for Linux (yet), and we definitely need all the goodwill we can get.
I agree that talking down on developers/publishers for not supporting Linux is extremely unproductive though. No one is getting rich by making games for Linux (yet), and we definitely need all the goodwill we can get.
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linux_gamer Mar 11, 2015
Both are ignorant and one-sided but the reply is unbearable!
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there is no reason to response anymore. if blizzard see the money in linux, they will support it. activision doesnt care about anything other than money ;)
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