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As usual, the wider media and people who like to generate clicky headlines like to claim Steam Machines are dead in the water. The truth is though, that it's not quite so simple.
First up is a nicely presented video from The Linux Gamer that's worth a watch:
Now onto my current thoughts on the matter.
Valve have recently hired new people to work on Mesa directly, which are our open source graphics drivers. We've already seen quite a bit of work done on Mesa thanks to Valve, like increased performance, supporting higher OpenGL versions and Vulkan support and this is set to continue.
Valve also only a few days ago released SteamVR in Beta for Linux, so in future a Steam Machine should work out of the box with the Vive headset.
Valve aren't stupid. They aren't about to stop developing Steam Machines. They are clearly still heavily invested in Linux to actually pay people to make our open source graphics drivers better. I imagine their business folks are keeping a very close eye on movements inside Microsoft for how their Windows Store will progress. That is still a very real threat to Steam, especially if more developers choose to release their games on it. In reality, any store is a threat to Valve, but one tied directly to the biggest operating system around in terms of use, Valve would be idiotic to move away from SteamOS and run off into the sunset with Microsoft.
Last year we saw the largest number of AAA/bigger budget games released on Linux, ever. We had Rocket League, Total War: WARHAMMER, XCOM 2, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Mad Max and so on. That's only some of the major releases quickly off the top of my head, but we had tons of other high quality game releases last year too.
This year has already started extremely well for us with Civilization VI and HITMAN both already out and with DiRT Rally to follow soon. We then also have Torment: Tides of Numenera, Sudden Strike 4, Dungeons 3, Cossacks 3, Total War: SHOGUN 2 (not yet confirmed, but it looks likely) and probably many others.
Aside from games, we also have Vulkan which will see much greater traction this year. Vulkan will help to level out the performance difference for Linux vs Windows in terms of game performance. We've already seen what it can do for some games, but in time Vulkan should do better and better as developers learn more about the ins and outs of the newer API and the big games engines incorporate better support overall.
Part of the problem was that expectation was just too high, but I've always maintained that Steam Machines were never going to be an overnight success. The odds were heavily stacked against them, and yet they have still given Linux gaming plenty of wins with tons more games, better drivers, more users and so on. For those wondering about my "more users" comment, remember that the Steam Hardware Survey percentage for operating system use is a ratio, so even when the percentage drops the overall user count is probably higher due to Steam's constant growth in terms of overall user-base.
As for SteamOS itself, it will be a constant evolution that goes hand in hand with all the work Valve is doing on the Steam store directly. All the improvements they do to Steam do directly benefit SteamOS. Things like better searching tools, better recommendations, requiring developers to use proper in-game screenshots, the constant and ever improving Steam Controller (and proper config support for more gamepads) and so on. These are just some examples of things that perhaps people aren't thinking about in relation to SteamOS and Steam Machines.
Simply put, Steam Machines are not dead. Not selling like hot cakes, sure, but Valve are putting in a lot of effort behind the scenes that the wider media don't bother to look into. Why would they though? Since that wouldn't generate great headlines. Bad news sells, sad, but true.
Right now, I see SteamOS and Steam Machines as being on a temporary hiatus while Valve helps to sort out some of the inner workings to make sure future games actually work well. Progress has been good on that and I'm pretty damn happy with the way things are going right now and you should be too.
What are your current thoughts? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
First up is a nicely presented video from The Linux Gamer that's worth a watch:
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Now onto my current thoughts on the matter.
Valve have recently hired new people to work on Mesa directly, which are our open source graphics drivers. We've already seen quite a bit of work done on Mesa thanks to Valve, like increased performance, supporting higher OpenGL versions and Vulkan support and this is set to continue.
Valve also only a few days ago released SteamVR in Beta for Linux, so in future a Steam Machine should work out of the box with the Vive headset.
Valve aren't stupid. They aren't about to stop developing Steam Machines. They are clearly still heavily invested in Linux to actually pay people to make our open source graphics drivers better. I imagine their business folks are keeping a very close eye on movements inside Microsoft for how their Windows Store will progress. That is still a very real threat to Steam, especially if more developers choose to release their games on it. In reality, any store is a threat to Valve, but one tied directly to the biggest operating system around in terms of use, Valve would be idiotic to move away from SteamOS and run off into the sunset with Microsoft.
Last year we saw the largest number of AAA/bigger budget games released on Linux, ever. We had Rocket League, Total War: WARHAMMER, XCOM 2, Tomb Raider, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Mad Max and so on. That's only some of the major releases quickly off the top of my head, but we had tons of other high quality game releases last year too.
This year has already started extremely well for us with Civilization VI and HITMAN both already out and with DiRT Rally to follow soon. We then also have Torment: Tides of Numenera, Sudden Strike 4, Dungeons 3, Cossacks 3, Total War: SHOGUN 2 (not yet confirmed, but it looks likely) and probably many others.
Aside from games, we also have Vulkan which will see much greater traction this year. Vulkan will help to level out the performance difference for Linux vs Windows in terms of game performance. We've already seen what it can do for some games, but in time Vulkan should do better and better as developers learn more about the ins and outs of the newer API and the big games engines incorporate better support overall.
Part of the problem was that expectation was just too high, but I've always maintained that Steam Machines were never going to be an overnight success. The odds were heavily stacked against them, and yet they have still given Linux gaming plenty of wins with tons more games, better drivers, more users and so on. For those wondering about my "more users" comment, remember that the Steam Hardware Survey percentage for operating system use is a ratio, so even when the percentage drops the overall user count is probably higher due to Steam's constant growth in terms of overall user-base.
As for SteamOS itself, it will be a constant evolution that goes hand in hand with all the work Valve is doing on the Steam store directly. All the improvements they do to Steam do directly benefit SteamOS. Things like better searching tools, better recommendations, requiring developers to use proper in-game screenshots, the constant and ever improving Steam Controller (and proper config support for more gamepads) and so on. These are just some examples of things that perhaps people aren't thinking about in relation to SteamOS and Steam Machines.
Simply put, Steam Machines are not dead. Not selling like hot cakes, sure, but Valve are putting in a lot of effort behind the scenes that the wider media don't bother to look into. Why would they though? Since that wouldn't generate great headlines. Bad news sells, sad, but true.
Right now, I see SteamOS and Steam Machines as being on a temporary hiatus while Valve helps to sort out some of the inner workings to make sure future games actually work well. Progress has been good on that and I'm pretty damn happy with the way things are going right now and you should be too.
What are your current thoughts? Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
[quote=Alm888][quote=liamdawe]
of course, the games had no competition since we had almost no games on linux, so 20% of the income came from linux users, that dont mean the same would happen nowadays that 1/5 of the games on steam are avaliable to linux.
what strength we can show now?
Quoting: Alm888Quoting: liamdaweTorment: Tides of Numenera
1) We showed our strength at Humble Bundles in the 2010;
of course, the games had no competition since we had almost no games on linux, so 20% of the income came from linux users, that dont mean the same would happen nowadays that 1/5 of the games on steam are avaliable to linux.
what strength we can show now?
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: DuckeenieThe link you provided was interesting but requires a little context - That feature is disabled by default so nothing more than an option for anyone who needs it. No fire here!Some seem to be hypothesizing that this is in the nature of a trial balloon or thin end of the wedge--that in the longer term they will shift the status of the "feature". Given Microsoft's past behaviour this does not seem far-fetched. Is it guaranteed? No. Is it something to take note of? I would think so, yes.
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Quoting: elmapul"(As a side note, the barriers to jumping to Mac remain about the same--expensive hardware--but may be starting to grow a bit IMO. Apple don't seem to care as much about MacOS as they used to, Metal and non-gaming-oriented hardware seem likely to make Macs lag on the game side, and Apple just isn't run by a driven genius any more)"That is absolutely true, but for our purposes it doesn't matter. Apple can make tons of profits and do very well as a company, but if they do so by emphasizing iOS and phones, it could still represent an opening for Linux in the desktop-and-laptop space. I'm fine with that--they win on their terms($$$), we win on ours(Linux increased market share leading to better drivers, more games etc), everyone's happy.
apple dont care so much about macOS because iOS is making them tons of money.
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Quoting: DuckeenieThe link you provided was interesting but requires a little context - That feature is disabled by default so nothing more than an option for anyone who needs it. No fire here!
Yes I know. However, knowing Microsft they will probably enable it by default. And the glaring problem with it is advertising Windows store as safe and other win32 apps as not safe. Which is bullshit if it's not coming from an anti-virus / anti-malware software.
Do you guys remember when Microsoft forced apps onto users systems in an anniversary update? Candy crush, and a lot of other junk that was on several hundreds of mb each.
I'm not of the idea that Microsoft is the only scummy company out there, but Microsoft is definitely among of the ones I have least respect for, despite what they have done for open source recently.
Quoting: DuckeenieMoving on to your response to my point...I think you're letting your fondness for the support Valve have given to Linux cloud your judgement. GOG for example is full of people who don't want Steam. A huge part of the Linux user-base is anti proprietary by definition and therefore don't want Steam. I don't know the exact figures but a huge percentage of AAA titles are ONLY available on Steam. If I can only buy a game on one service that IS lock-in.
I'm not fond of Steam or Valve to the point of fandom. I do however appreciate the things that they have done, but I critique them for doing things I disapprove of, like steam greenlight handling, games saturation, paid mods system, drm and so on. It's also worth noting that there are Steam games that don't require Steam to run.
I did say that people want Steam, which is true for many people (looking at the huge Steam user base), I didn't say that all want Steam. Which is something that I can completely understand, as I buy games from GOG whenever I can.
Quoting: DuckeenieNow just to add some perspective I LIKE Steam and use it all the time but then I'm far too old to start a revolution and the only lock-in I care about these days is down at my local pub.
In my case, it's a consideration between happiness or principles. Most of the games on GOG are indie titles and mid-mainstream, which are titles that I usually don't enjoy, so buying games on Steam is something I won't stop myself doing. I do buy Linux games almost all the time. It's only rarely that I buy Windows only titles, and I do have a pretty large Library on Steam, many of those I have yet to complete.
1 Likes, Who?
wvstolzing Mar 1, 2017
Quoting: Purple Library GuyThat is absolutely true, but for our purposes it doesn't matter. Apple can make tons of profits and do very well as a company, but if they do so by emphasizing iOS and phones, it could still represent an opening for Linux in the desktop-and-laptop space.
Several years ago, when MacOS 10.7 (Lion) came out, people began saying that this was the beginning of the end for the Mac, that it would eventually merge into iOS, and be replaced by the iPad line, etc. At the time (I was using a Mac) I thought this was a bit overblown, because contrary to the allegations, Apple was keeping their mobile & desktop OSs distinct, despite premature attempts in the industry to merge the two styles (M$'s 'Metro', etc.)
I quit using a Mac after 10.8, and haven't really kept up with them ever since, but recent developments suggest that people who were protesting the demise of the Mac might have been right after all. As it became known last December, there's no longer a MacOS team at Apple now, so it's a side project to iOS at this point. The hardware updates to the Mac line are also getting more and more bizarre. So after a certain 'golden age' following the intel transition, the Mac might be returning to its status all through the '90s as an odd & overpriced platform, of which the only real use would be to run XCode in order to write iOS applications.
I'd love to think that Linux can then step in, and save the multi-purpose desktop PC; but then again, changing mainstream user habits are turning that into an old relic as well. I just wish to keep having access to multi-purpose devices where I can be ROOT, have complete control over what bits go in and out, and write/change/compile software as I please.
Perhaps the 'future' of multi-purpose PC enthusiasts will be multi-purpose development boards. So hopefully that 'market' keeps developing.
2 Likes, Who?
Quoting: wvstolzingI'd love to think that Linux can then step in, and save the multi-purpose desktop PC; but then again, changing mainstream user habits are turning that into an old relic as well. I just wish to keep having access to multi-purpose devices where I can be ROOT, have complete control over what bits go in and out, and write/change/compile software as I please.
Perhaps the 'future' of multi-purpose PC enthusiasts will be multi-purpose development boards. So hopefully that 'market' keeps developing.
I've never really understood why current developments in the tech field seem as often as not to be about making things less useful and versatile, and this is apparently popular. Being able to do whatever you want with your computer instead of being locked into a few stock functions--so last generation! Wha?
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