Aspyr Media are reminding Linux gamers not to give up hope on Civilization VI

Hold on a second now. The wording of their statement almost suggests they actually made a Linux port and it sucked, so 2K pulled the plug on it. Why else would they need to research and prove that their port can perform up to standards? Either that or the Mac port was not up to standards so 2K axed the Linux port.

It depends on what they mean by "perform to our standards". Do they mean software performance, or sales performance?

AnxiousInfusion's nifty guide to decipher Linux port news:

"$GAME will release day-one for Linux!" == $Game will release months after everyone moves on to the next big thing.

"$GAME will release for Linux!" == $GAME has non-trivial chance of being canceled... and we won't tell you anything if it is hahaha!

"Linux port of $GAME will be released in X months!" == X = number_of_times_this_announcement_was_made * 2

"We are currently assessing the viability of a Linux port!" == We're going back through the code and realizing how much vendor lock-in we got suckered into.

"$GAME is in early access for Windows and will release with Linux support!" == We are staying in early access FOREVER.

"$KICKSTARTER_GAME also plans for a Linux release!" == But it's just a stretch goal and we're only as serious about the port as you are about your love life.

Sean Bean says that if dogs do not go to heaven when they die, he wants to go wherever they go when he does.

That alone, makes it worth buying. Haha.


Last edited by [email protected] on 25 October 2016 at 1:15 am UTC

I have to wonder though, could this be due to Feral? Now I don't mean "did feral do something to the port" or anything like that.

But more from a business perspective, Feral have been getting lots of business lately and the majority of AAA ports now seem to be coming from them instead of VP or Aspyr.

It is entirely possible that Feral is getting all the major contracts for GNU/Linux ports which is somewhat leaving the other porting houses with a lack of GNU/Linux port contracts.

So they the other porting houses may have to wind down their budgets for GNU/Linux ports, which in turn means less GNU/Linux ports from those porting houses.

Remember, Feral and Aspyr are direct competitors and it would appear at this moment in time that Feral is winning over Aspyr for contracts.

So with that information in mind, that could be why we are seeing less and less Aspyr GNU/Linux ports and more and more from Feral.

Thus, the verdict and solution here is simple:
ScoobyDoo Feral where are you?

We need you to port this game!

I think both Feral and Aspyr port different kinds of games tbh. Companies can exist in the same industry and yet target an independent segment of the market.

I agree with [email protected], Aspyr are clearly not giving up on Linux as a whole, rather they are trying to make games perform to their standards and keep their port quality (which has been incredible for me for all of their previous linux games honestly). Some concurrence is also not bad but if there were like 5 companies that would do this kind of thig they would run out of games to port actually... But this way they can distribute their roles and help the community with each providing us with other types of games which is nice... I'm wondering which are the unknown upcoming big titles for linux :D


Last edited by MaCroX95 on 25 October 2016 at 5:14 am UTC

If it happens I'll buy it, even though I've played the previous game in the series for less than 10 minutes, but if it doesn't happen I won't lose any sleep over it, I have plenty of great games to keep me occupied, Mad Max, Alien Isolation, Borderlands2&presequel, Victor Vran , Witcher 2, Warhammer40k, to name just a few.

There's one thing that I'd really like in case we won't see a port:
A long and detailed explanation why porting this game would not be worth the effort.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not looking for justification by Aspyr, as (not?) making the port is their and their business partner's decision. I'm just curious if there are technical reasons, what those technical reasons are, and if the community can do something about them (think: fix certain bugs in the open source graphics drivers, work on missing GL extensions,...). Sadly though, I'm pretty certain that Aspyr will not be able to provide this information due to NDAs...

I'd buy it even in order to help them debug the code if necessary (ie I'd be able to give them bug reports and so on). Buying a beta on that game does not annoy me if it is to help the community.

Be patient! Civ 6 release state is - as expected - a Beta with lots of Bugs and an AI dumb like hell. Now Fireaxis will take another 2 years to fix & finish the game. Sell a lot of DLCs on the way. Same procedure as with any Fireaxis Game. Only Beyond Earth seems to fall out of this pattern, which is still bad :/

So if Aspyr does need more time to evaluate a Linux port, they can have it.

So if Aspyr does need more time to evaluate a Linux port, they can have it.

The biggest problem here is the uncertainty. Linux users usually have a few options with games: Wine, Dual Boot, VM, and due to the long years of little to no games most of us know how to work around games that don't show up on our platform of choice.
Don't misunderstand me - I'd rather wait half a year for a linux port than having to play Civ on Windows but for me to make the effort I will need a commitment by the developer that I will not wait in vain. The uncertainty is what will probably push me to just get it over with, buy the game on windows together with a new motherboard (and add my old graphics card) and run it in a virtual Windows box in my Win10 VM.

Uncertainty means that every day a certain percentage of the target group will cave in. Uncertainty means that every day they wait with the announcement their potential customer base is shrinking and the financial rationale of porting the game will look less and less appealing. It is already bad enough that they created this uncertainty at the worst possible moment: during the actual release when most people make their buying decission.

I hate to say it but at the moment I am using Linux for work and ... not Linux for entertainment.
My two main games are Street Fighter and CIV, both are supposed to come to linux but I am a bit bored of hoping.
I will hapilly switch over as soon as those two games are available.

Spoiler, click me

civ6 is amazing, best civ i have played

Last edited by Daifuco on 25 October 2016 at 10:48 am UTC

I own Civ 5, and thought it's really well done. I'd like to play 6 but I can never find the time these days! The Civ series is easily one of the biggest time sinks - one of those games where you suddenly realise you're still playing at 3am.

I'm more drawn to things I can easily drop in and out of now, or finish quickly.

From what I have seen, the game isn't even worth it if you plan on single player because the AI is worse than Civ V.

There's one thing that I'd really like in case we won't see a port:
A long and detailed explanation why porting this game would not be worth the effort.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not looking for justification by Aspyr, as (not?) making the port is their and their business partner's decision. I'm just curious if there are technical reasons, what those technical reasons are, and if the community can do something about them (think: fix certain bugs in the open source graphics drivers, work on missing GL extensions,...). Sadly though, I'm pretty certain that Aspyr will not be able to provide this information due to NDAs...

If anything this teaches us how multi-platform deployment is NOT done right. Firaxis clearly wanted a Linux port (and said so), but they obviously failed to incorporate that objective into their development process. They made a Windows game, apparently not caring about anything they do being hard or even impossible to get to run on Linux. And when the entire thing was (almost) done, they gave it to Aspyr and said "There, get out your magic wand and make it run on Linux!"

And that's just not how it works.

If you want to deploy multi-platform, you need to develop multi-platform. At the very least, get Aspyr on board early on and keep them informed. That way they could have at least said "Oh guys, if you do this and that, it will be a pain in the arse to port the game later on."

Civ V was ported by Aspyr and for me it works much better than Feral's ports of the XCOMs. I heard that the graphics of Civ V are worse on the Linux version compared to the Windows one but I never noticed.

I am still wondering why they Firaxis announces a Linux version and then suddenly there is talk about it being a mere possibility. Having more transparency and getting more insight into what the reasons for this sudden change are would be nice.

I for my part will wait until a Linux version is released before buying it.

I bought it and I should've waited. Civ 5 is probably more enjoyable right now. I can't get into the new graphics style either. I wish the strategic view which I'm mostly using looked like this: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/lENtdImXgkE/maxresdefault.jpg. Instead I feel like playing Travian through the web browser.

Honestly the main difference on civ5 graphics between linuw and windows comes from the water which is much more beautiful on wincrap. But I prefer playing on linux even with less shiny water unless I play a network game with a friend who did not purify his computer.

And now waiting for civ6...

Edit: Just saw the reddit statement. I don't know what they could possibly be researching at this stage. The OSX port will be using OpenGL so it's not an additional API issue. Besides which, they've had (presumably) several months to look at the game and code. The lack of clarity and wording makes me suspect it's simply a investment/returns for man hours issue. However well rationalized by them, I still feel like I'm being treated like a second class citizen.

Hold on a second now. The wording of their statement almost suggests they actually made a Linux port and it sucked, so 2K pulled the plug on it. Why else would they need to research and prove that their port can perform up to standards? Either that or the Mac port was not up to standards so 2K axed the Linux port.

I dunno. It seems like the challenges of porting to Linux would be pretty identical to the challenges of porting to MacOS. I would expect all of the same kind of hardware support and driver quality snags. Except it's easier for them to raise the minimum spec on us.

To be perfectly honest, I was a little shocked at the requirements for Civ5. As a turn based game I expected it to be usable on something with a less than stellar GPU (like those i915 Mac Minis).

I think it's all just social media marketing. Aspyr is learning from Feral it seems. Of course CivVI will come to linux.