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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well that's just sad, those small portion of people ruin it for us
3 Likes, Who?
Sorry but what you are doing will not help either. If the Linux usage would pass a certain amount blizzard would support it because its all about money not being polite.
5 Likes, Who?
The issue here is that Blizzard is one of the few large and popular enough that they can completely ignore Steam, and still thrive. In fact, a lot of their fans ONLY play their games, and don't even have Steam accounts. This a unique position.
2 Likes, Who?
Sad response from the petition owner indeed.
About the 2%: according to W3schools it's 5.4% (mobile systems not included), half of Mac's %. Not that it makes much difference to Blizzard right now.
About the 2%: according to W3schools it's 5.4% (mobile systems not included), half of Mac's %. Not that it makes much difference to Blizzard right now.
0 Likes
Sorry but what you are doing will not help either. If the Linux usage would pass a certain amount blizzard would support it because its all about money not being polite.
What are we doing that isn't helping exactly? Apart from pointing out that idiots don't represent us.
10 Likes, Who?
Sad response from the petition owner indeed.
About the 2%: according to W3schools it's 5.4% (mobile systems not included), half of Mac's %. Not that it makes much difference to Blizzard right now.
But I suppose those statistics are only about people who visit the www.w3schools.com website.
It is quite scary that 85% of web developers run Windows anyway, that would explain why there are so many orrible websites around, with IE6 code, Flash, activeX etc...
4 Likes, Who?
Sorry but what you are doing will not help either. If the Linux usage would pass a certain amount blizzard would support it because its all about money not being polite.
What are we doing that isn't helping exactly? Apart from pointing out that idiots don't represent us.
Kissing some body parts of blizzard and yes there are gazillions of idiots everywhere and that they do not represent anything. If blizzard would get those comments personally and put all GNU/Linux users into the same pot then I would say never buy a product of them in the first place.
4 Likes, Who?
Sorry but what you are doing will not help either. If the Linux usage would pass a certain amount blizzard would support it because its all about money not being polite.
What are we doing that isn't helping exactly? Apart from pointing out that idiots don't represent us.
Kissing some body parts of blizzard and yes there are gazillions of idiots everywhere and that they do not represent anything. If blizzard would get those comments personally and put all GNU/Linux users into the same pot then I would say never buy a product of them in the first place.
You realise developers, publishers, ceo's, and the like are human too right?
We aren't "kissing some body parts" of anyone here, we are being realistic, and not trying to burn bridges with developers. That's an extremely childish response from you. Sad to see people commenting like that here.
We respect Blizzard's decision.
11 Likes, Who?
Oh crap, beware the zealots. I learned that from the "Linux is too hard for Joe Sixpack" debates.
How about telling the executive that we're not talking about short term "get rich" strategies here but about a get-as-platform-agnostic-as-you-can-and-profit-in-the-long-run investment?
But then, the zealots.
How about telling the executive that we're not talking about short term "get rich" strategies here but about a get-as-platform-agnostic-as-you-can-and-profit-in-the-long-run investment?
But then, the zealots.
3 Likes, Who?
Well i'm not interested in Blizzard games anymore, but this is not the way to convice them to come to Linux.
2 Likes, Who?
<snip by editor>, I'm sticking to valve and the entire rest that does not have a windows-only-fetish.
2 Likes, Who?
Crazy Penguin 11 Mar 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.
2 Likes, Who?
Delete me!
1 Likes, Who?
[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.
We 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.
6 Likes, Who?
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.
*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.
6 Likes, Who?
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.
*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.
3 Likes, Who?
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.
3 Likes, Who?
linux_gamer 11 Mar 2015
Both are ignorant and one-sided but the reply is unbearable!
2 Likes, Who?
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 ;)
1 Likes, Who?
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