Kingdom Come: Deliverance may not come to Linux at all, more bad news

Quoting: LinasCan you get refunds from Kickstarter? I always thought that sending money to Kickstarter is like flushing it down the drain.

Yes, you can. They refunded my pledge a few months ago. It was already clear then, that a Linux version will never happen.

Quoting: ajgpHowever to promise a release platform then on a crowdfunding site in order to ellicit pledges only to pull that from the lineup furter down the line is appalling behaviour in my opinion.

This is my second main reason for not supporting Kickstarter projects (the first being that the entire thing might never happen even if fully funded). It and my experience with Witcher 2 are also why I don't buy already-released games that have a promise of coming to Linux.

My question is "why"? What happened to make them cut out support like this? Did they, as has been seen with some game relatively recently that escapes me right now, use Windows-exclusive middleware and underestimate the cost of converting to something not exclusive? Did they, like with (IIRC) Skullgirls, have someone porting it for free and expect that they could continue like that forever and had no backup? Did a neighbor's dog come in and chew up their homework, that homework just so happening to be the code for the Mac and Linux ports?

I'm glad they're at least letting people know in some way and that they seem to be good on refunding Mac/Linux backers, but I'm really getting annoyed with how common this situation is. In the past few hours, GoL has covered two games in the same boat. Go back a bit and we've got Killing Floor 2, Skullgirls (Now resolved, but it was in limbo for a long time), Killing Room, and just too many others. It's gotten to the point where I've almost stopped caring for announcements of Linux ports from anyone that isn't Feral, Aspyr, or Ethan Lee because it's almost inevitable that the Linux port gets majorly delayed or canceled outright.

Quoting: camocelticIt's gotten to the point where I've almost stopped caring for announcements of Linux ports from anyone that isn't Feral, Aspyr, or Ethan Lee because it's almost inevitable that the Linux port gets majorly delayed or canceled outright.

I would add Paradox to that list as well, everygame they promised would have a linux release has had one (Day-1 as well)

Awww man. Another (almost) canceled port.
I don't get it. Why do they think they can make a Linux version in the first place?
Most of Kickstarter projects (except the System Shock remake, Greedy Guns and some other exceptions) don't have a Linux demo to show they have already looked into this topic yet promising a Linux version. And in the end they realize it is to much effort to do the port so it's first delayed, and then canceled.
If a Linux port is announced in the Kickstarter campaign, do they get so much more money that it is worth the risk of never delivering a Linux port and setting up the backers believing in a Linux port?

I didn't back Kingdom Come: Deliverance, but it is a bad sign in general. Of course this doesn't apply to all Kickstarter campaigns, but already too many. And I'm worried about games to come that look promising and interesting, we are spending our money on them because we believe in their promises and in the end are getting disappointed.

I hope for the best for Kingdom Come: Deliverance. Please do the port.

Quoting: GuestIt’s the same thing they’ve been (not) saying for months if not years, really.

Yes, I agree. It's more or less the same thing we've been hearing from them since the alpha came out and people started asking where the Linux (and Mac) version of that was. The big difference to all previous discussion of this is that it's the first time there's been any mention of it in an actual Kickstarter update (as opposed to a comment on an update, or in the forum, or by email).

Quoting: camocelticMy question is "why"? What happened to make them cut out support like this?

The most plausible explanation I've heard (it was a forum post I think) was that from the point where they launched the alpha they were stuck with the major version of CryEngine they were on at the time, too much effort to upgrade and too much risk to release schedules. That version of CryEngine doesn't and won't ever support Linux (or Mac) well enough to release the game. If this is the scenario then there'll almost certainly never be a Linux version unless there's some sort of future remastered version to make it worth their while to upgrade the engine. Possibly someone like VP could do a wrapper style port (and they brought Deep Silver on as a publisher, who have history with VP) but my impressions from following the progress of the Windows version is that it performs pretty badly already and any such port might therefore be unplayable.

Their communication on the Linux release has been consistently poor throughout but, as a few people have mentioned above, they will issue refunds if you contact them by email.

Refund accepted. End of the Story with Kingdome Come.


Last edited by Lordpkappa on 9 December 2016 at 5:42 pm UTC

Quoting: camocelticIt's gotten to the point where I've almost stopped caring for announcements of Linux ports from anyone that isn't Feral, Aspyr, or Ethan Lee because it's almost inevitable that the Linux port gets majorly delayed or canceled outright.

The Linux port of Batman Arkham Knight was made by Feral... and they, not Warner, cancelled the game.

Quoting: LordpkappaRefund accepted. End of the Story with Kingdome Come.

Who did you contact for the refund? Was it WarHorse or Kickstarter?

This is what they told me:

QuoteThank you for your email. We are very sorry that we were not able to keep our promise with a Linux version at release. This is not as it was planned as we have seen that this task is more complex in the development than we thought during the Kickstarter campaign. Right now we don´t have fixed plans regarding the Linux version, as we are strongly focused on the release and we have to look at the Linux version again after the release. This is not a satisfying answer, but the only we can provide right now.

Which reads to me as "Linux support will be an afterthought/will only be considered once the game has been released and is not guaranteed", which is a very bad sign (I would not be surprised if they later confirm that a Linux/Mac release will never happen due to platform-specific middleware or some other major platform-limiting design choice making it very difficult to do). I'll be getting a refund.

Quoting: Antryg64Who did you contact for the refund? Was it WarHorse or Kickstarter?

[email protected]

Quoting: LinasCan you get refunds from Kickstarter? I always thought that sending money to Kickstarter is like flushing it down the drain.

In general, it's entirely up to the ones running the project. Some have offered refunds, but they are under no obligation to. As long as they can claim a "good faith effort" then Kickstarter policy allows them to keep all the money. This is one of the reasons I refer to crowdfunding as a donation.


Last edited by Mountain Man on 9 December 2016 at 7:02 pm UTC