Civilization VI for Linux is no longer certain, only a possibility

F*ck Aspyr
I was waiting it and now this :-(

There's no need to be rude.

Maybe some middleware does not have a linux version and this is not something Aspyr could do anything about.
Middlewares can be a huge problem for ports and their use is decided by the game developers.

I have to say Aspyr has been dropping the ball in recent times. They havent put a game out in like 9 months and not much happening with regard to anouncements either. What should be interesting though is given their relationship with 2K if we will see a Mafia III port announced anytime soon and if so if it will only be Mac or Linux aswell.

Middlewares can be a huge problem for ports and their use is decided by the game developers.

I am sorry, but if they plan to release a game on platforms other than Windows (and they obviously did, as Linux/Mac were confirmed when the game was announced), and then use Windows-only middleware to make it, they are stupid. You can't just write a Windows game using Windows development tools and then hope the thing will magically compile on Mac or Linux. If you want to deploy multi-platform, you need to develop multi-platform.

Yep, as a game developer I can confirm that middleware can be a showstopper when it comes to portability. We use a special FX software which only supports Windows and (supposedly, but not really) Mac for our current Unity-project.
The consequence: Chances for a Linux version are nearly zero unless said middleware gets Linux support, and unless its horrendous Mac bugs are fixed, Mac support is on hold as well...

I was thinking about pre-ordering the game the other day trusting on the previous announcement and the existence of Linux version of Civ V and BE. But at the last minute I decided to wait until the Steam OS icon was in the shop to be sure that it would count as a Linux sale.

Now I'm glad I didn't buy it. Well, I will wait, see the reviews and if the game is any good and in the future gets release on Linux I will think about buying it again.

Hope they share information about their troubles. There are many of us who are trying to work on improving Linux as a platform for games, so feedback from developers about the challenges help a lot. Of course some things are mostly out of our hands like issues with game engines and such, but many are not. For instance we are introducing quite a few fixes to Fedora Workstation 25 based on trying to make it more accommodating for games.

Yep, as a game developer I can confirm that middleware can be a showstopper when it comes to portability. We use a special FX software which only supports Windows and (supposedly, but not really) Mac for our current Unity-project.

We're all well aware of that sort of issue. The question we have, since even us users are well aware of it, is why developers keep choosing to use middleware that isn't cross platform when they've promised to release cross platform?

Yep, as a game developer I can confirm that middleware can be a showstopper when it comes to portability. We use a special FX software which only supports Windows and (supposedly, but not really) Mac for our current Unity-project.

We're all well aware of that sort of issue. The question we have, since even us users are well aware of it, is why developers keep choosing to use middleware that isn't cross platform when they've promised to release cross platform?

Exactly, this kind of thing makes professionals come off as amateurs. If you have been using the middle-ware for a while (years) and are somewhat locked in it is more understandable, but to have released previous games (in the same series!) on other platforms and then go in reverse is unjustifiable.

I am so tired of all this bait and switch from supposedly reputable developers. If you confirm a port, then it has to come out. You can't suddenly switch to "well, we're exploring it!". You've made a promise, and people may have preordered based on that promise.

At least I'm glad I didn't preorder this. I was thinking of doing it when they had the steam controller bundle out but now I am glad I didn't.

If this port doesn't come out I swear I will never buy a Firaxis or Aspyr product ever again. This is no joke.

And I wish more people had this attitude. Companies have to understand that they will lose our business if they yank us around.

I am so tired of all this bait and switch from supposedly reputable developers. If you confirm a port, then it has to come out. You can't suddenly switch to "well, we're exploring it!". You've made a promise, and people may have preordered based on that promise.

At least I'm glad I didn't preorder this. I was thinking of doing it when they had the steam controller bundle out but now I am glad I didn't.

If this port doesn't come out I swear I will never buy a Firaxis or Aspyr product ever again. This is no joke.

And I wish more people had this attitude. Companies have to understand that they will lose our business if they yank us around.

I agree with most of this, but if we stop buying games they will simply stop making them. We need to support games that actually get released. On the same note, they should catch a load of **** when this kind of thing happens. As said repeatedly on this site, never buy a game until it is actually released on Linux.

Of course you have the right to your point of view, but if we all shared it developers would simply loose all interest in trying to release for Linux. We are not a large enough market at this time to have such an outlook, at least not if we actually want to get more good games on our platform.

I think the problem is that gamers are by and large a captive audience. It seems most of us cannot stand to not be playing the "hot new game", so they will buy it anyway and play it on a Windows partition or wine, or otherwise support companies that don't treat them right.

There are other games out there, too many for me to play. Even on gnu+linux. So it's not that big of a deal to swear off from buying a certain company's product if they don't treat us right.

Companies have no incentive to treat us right if they know they will get our business whatever they do.

This is why you see companies yanking their customers around with ridiculous DLC and preorder bonuses, even in the Windows world. Gamers need to be more assertive customers.

As Edmund Blackadder once said, "I think it rhymes with 'clucking bell'"

No, this comes direct from Aspyr Media as linked to in the article. They have also commented on reddit now too:

We are still investigating the technical feasibility of it. I say that because we will NOT bring a substandard version to Linux, no matter how much we want to see that happen.

Huh. I wonder why they want so badly to see a substandard version on Linux, and who's stopping them. ;)
(I mean, they say they want "that" to happen)

Well...I guess this time around we won't have to wait for them to fix the whole issue of entering into a diplomatic agreement with the ai one turn and the very next turn they denounce you and declare war on you right?

Huh. I wonder why they want so badly to see a substandard version on Linux, and who's stopping them. ;)
(I mean, they say they want "that" to happen)

Dangit...grammer fail:/ I've edited to fix that

What a load. I nearly pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition yesterday. I'm not sure I'm going to be spending any money on this at all anymore, or if I do, I'll likely not buy it first party to make sure the developers don't get a cent. This isn't JUST Aspyr's fault. Clearly, Firaxis made a promise Aspyr couldn't keep. Neither of them deserve money from us.

What a load. I nearly pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition yesterday. I'm not sure I'm going to be spending any money on this at all anymore,

Never preorder. But if there is a good port and the game is good then buy it from legitimate sources or just dont play it


Last edited by Redface on 5 October 2016 at 8:40 pm UTC

I can't say I didn't see this coming.
Aspyr has never really embraced Linux porting, they always appeared as an old school Mac porting shop that failed to realize times are changing.

Times are changing because Linux gaming is on the (admittedly slow for now) rise while Apple gaming is going down.
I mean Apple computers are stuck in OpenGL 4.1 world, with a proprietary mobile API as only alternative and ever more underpowered hardware. Apple obviously doesn't care for gaming, I'd even argue they don't really care about desktop anymore.

Meanwhile, I just wish reputable developpers like Firaxis would stop giving ports to Aspyr and put it in the more capable (though very busy) hands of Feral.

As far as I'm concerned, this news translate to more money for Feral!
Still wished I would be able to play Civ 6, but it'll end up running under Wine sooner or later (maybe someone will revive Gallium eleven given the much improved state of Mesa and increasing AMD marketshare).


PS: the so-called technical difficulties to port Civ 6 on Linux is just sugarcoating their decision to completely abandon Linux porting.
There's no difficulties, not with the Mac port being OpenGL, Linux having superior OpenGL support and the two previous games in the franchise successfully running on Linux.

Damn, that was the only game I was playing to buy in the next month :(

The day they release Civ V on Linux was the day I stopped buying Windows games. I do still have a windows PC that the kids use sometimes but I have not used it since that day. And yet, this is the only game series that I really play continiously for the last few decades (god am I ever old!). My wife plays it... my kids play it... and now it might not come to linux. What a sad day. It will be a dramatic loss for me but I guess this will be the first Civ game that I will not be playing :( (I'm right now considering replacing my main board, so I can put a second GPU in to pass-thru to my Windows KVM (which is there since customers stubbornly require you to have Office and run obscure desktop sharing services :() - that's how far I would go to play this game!)