F1 2016 won't be coming to Linux, as sales of F1 2015 weren't strong enough

Real Shame :( Codemasters F1 games are awesome. Porting 2015 was a Bad choice though. It was missing soooo many features that we come to expect from the series. So a lot of people like me just skipped it. Even though it was ported to linux, there was no way I was ever going to buy it that year. I own all the others. The fact it was released so late made it even worse, as 2016 was just around the corner.

This is 1 series that keeps me and alot of my friends needing windows. Ofcoarse we hoped 2016 would be ported, but we already own it. Although we would of held off a little if it was announced to be on linux within a a short time after the windows release.

Please Port a worthy version of F1 either day 1 or very soon after and see what happens.

Quoting: Leopard

Quoting: saildata

Quoting: leillo1975

Quoting: ageres> Reviews: Mostly negative.
I wonder why sales were poor…

F1 2016 has "very positive" rating though.

I don't understand why the reviews are negative. The game is not excellent, but it is not so bad either. Maybe people had too high expectations.

I've looked at this before with Steam review data and found that Linux reviews were on average about 10-15% higher than Windows and about 5% (not sig.) higher than Macs. Note that was across all games.

Specific to simulation games, around 5% of Windows users rated above 90% while Linux users had over 12% of simulation games rated above 90%.

I have my theories on why this happens, both in general and simulation game specific, but would really like to hear what others think. These are not based on anything than 'gut feeling' and general observations regarding possible causes:

(1) One possibility is that Linux users are more inclined to fix any errors and then perhaps give a good rating later on, without thinking about the initial experience but rather the current experience.

(2) (I may be guilty of this as well) Linux users may have a lower "bar" for what they feel is a good game and are more likely to give a good rating even with the exact same glitches a Windows user might experience (and give it a negative review).

(3) My final theory on this is that we research and read reviews in more detail before purchase, and are more likely to be more selective therefore purchasing games that we would naturally rate higher (e.g. some people said they don't feel like they enjoy the 'F1' genre)

I actually just thought of one more as I was writing these down, but I won't bore you and suspect that someone may point it out what would be my #4 :)

I'm sure Steam has all this info and the answers :) as they can slice the data much more granular that is made in the API.

Your first two possible causes are coming from one , simple and hurtful truth.

We need games desperately (especially AAA titles) and when they released it we accept it regardless of bugs and performance. Those reviews are mostly positive (forgive me about that) because they think 'if we lick this developers or companies ass ; we can get sequel or more game from them. '

Just like lying to a woman or a man to get access in their pants. Cave man thoughts and behaves simply continues even if we don't realize.

People can't get it. Companies are like prostitutes ; if you have enough money they don't care about your opinions.

I hadn't thought about the perspective of, "we should be positive if we hope for future releases". That is a valid point. I also hadn't considered your comparison of companies to, err.. ladies of the night :)

I thought F1 was good.. until I got DiRT Rally. That really raised the bar for me. I grew up playing Forza on 360 and other games like that (can't remember the name of the PlayStation game atm) that were truly tough games. I think that's why DR really hit home for me and is among one of my favorites.

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!

Quoting: SkullyReal Shame :( Codemasters F1 games are awesome. Porting 2015 was a Bad choice though. It was missing soooo many features that we come to expect from the series. So a lot of people like me just skipped it. Even though it was ported to linux, there was no way I was ever going to buy it that year. I own all the others. The fact it was released so late made it even worse, as 2016 was just around the corner.

This is 1 series that keeps me and alot of my friends needing windows. Ofcoarse we hoped 2016 would be ported, but we already own it. Although we would of held off a little if it was announced to be on linux within a a short time after the windows release.

Please Port a worthy version of F1 either day 1 or very soon after and see what happens.

Edit: I didn't realize my unintentional pun (see below) ^_^

I wonder how much the engine (pun intended after I noticed it!) has actually changed? They invested so much in 2015 game that it seems like 2016 would be an instant green light, if nothing else to help recover costs from previous release, unless 2016 was truly going to be a massive effort.

I agree -- I don't think it was them, as the general reviews prior to them porting it were not fantastic to begin with. But, hindsight is 20/20 so it's easy to look back now and judge the decision. We have no idea what business motivations or incentives were involved to get the game on Linux.. maybe they were light on work and as was mentioned, forecasts were (always are) wrong. You use the information you have, make the decision, and learn.

I guess they're saying they learned and it doesn't make sense. I also am impressed with the honesty, that means a lot to me as one of their customers. Many companies wouldn't have touched the question and let it just sit there forever without an answer.


Last edited by saildata on 4 April 2017 at 1:54 am UTC

F1 2015 wasn't ported to MacOS. The ways of the Codemasters are unfathomable. ;)

For Mac OS Feral has now a lot in queue: Hitman, TW:Warhammer, Deus Ex, DiRT Rally, F1 2016.

Did I forget something?

That's too bad. All the reviews point to F1 2016 being much better than F1 2015.

I see several of you guys discuss user ratings and the motive behind them. You should stop caring so much about the user ratings and read the professional reviews instead. There it is properly explained why they set the score that they do, furthermore they use a lot more fine-grained score system than a simple thumb up/down.

Quoting: BeamboomI see several of you guys discuss user ratings and the motive behind them. You should stop caring so much about the user ratings and read the professional reviews instead. There it is properly explained why they set the score that they do, furthermore they use a lot more fine-grained score system than a simple thumb up/down.

I don't think so. A game in a genre I like being liked by many people that are into the genre as well turned out to be a good indicator for being fun for me. I additionally read professional reviews (on paper). But I never got why a 100 step score would be any more than fake precise.

I played and enjoyed F1 2012? I believe.. But I haven't played the sequels. I heard 2015 was one of the worst of the series, so maybe not the best one to bring to Linux.

Actually I can't get behind a new F1 game for each season. They should charge for a base Formula 1 game then allow you to buy yearly updates/episodes that are cheaper than a full blown game for new car models and tracks.

Quoting: BeamboomI see several of you guys discuss user ratings and the motive behind them. You should stop caring so much about the user ratings and read the professional reviews instead. There it is properly explained why they set the score that they do, furthermore they use a lot more fine-grained score system than a simple thumb up/down.

Edit: Let me clarify, I agree with the value of professional reviews, not that anything was ignored.

I agree and have said many times that I value the community (and pro, thanks Liam!) reviews far more than Steam reviews. My interest was in the inflation, e.g. the words people were writing didn't match up with the review classification. After more digging I found out it all comes down to positive reviews/total reviews, which is neither an accepted way (outside of HS algebra) or an honest method of reporting. It's one of many things they need to change, but as long as the $$$ are rolling in they have no incentive to do so, especially if it would result in lower ratings.

So I wouldn't say I care more than the community reviews, but (1) they often cross over (e.g. dialog on GOL and then read that same person's review on Steam) and (2) if they're running Linux, they can't be ALL that bad :) Also, I try to take into account all the information I have available before making a decision. I can't just write off the information on Steam, but I can give it a lower weight, per se, in my decision for buy/no buy.

I hope that the impression wasn't given that the feedback here is anything less than a treasure for anyone gaming on a Linux OS.


Last edited by saildata on 4 April 2017 at 3:27 pm UTC

Today Feral streamed F1 2016 for Mac:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/133615850

It feels a little bit sad but I don't see much difference between 2015 and 2016. Mac users haven't got 2015, so they are maybe a lot Mac user who will buy.

To be honest, I do not know if I would have bought it now. I just paid 50 Euros for DiRT Rally. F1 is reissued every year. There will be a version for Linux again next year or later.

I do not understand why 2015 has received such crushing criticism. The races are really fun. I see hardly any difference between 2015 and the actual version.