It’s been a long time since I’ve done this, but here’s part 5 in the series of me talking to developers about how their games have been selling on Linux.
If you missed the previous articles: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.
Beamdog
For those who don’t recognise the name, Beamdog are the people behind revamps of classic RPG titles like Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition and Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition.
They gave some details about how Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition sold on Steam:
- 91.74% - Windows
- 6.22% - Mac
- 2.04% - Linux
Additionally, they also gave details about install numbers from their own Beamdog client:
- 91.13% - Windows
- 6.38% - Mac
- 2.49% - Linux
Here’s what Beamdog CTO, Scott Brooks had to say about Linux support:
QuoteWe really think the Infinity Engine games are something special and work hard to bring them to people that might not otherwise be able to play them. We've worked with professional and volunteer translators to help bring Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition to 14 languages, and we add things like Story Mode to help people who otherwise would have a hard time playing these great games. We've ported an engine that was originally built in the 16bit to 32bit transition to 64bit in order to let people continue enjoying these games. There are people on Linux that would love to play our games specifically on Linux, and we would love to let them.
Also, if you missed it I did an interview with Beamdog before, you can see that here.
MidBoss
MidBoss, the roguelike where you possess the bodies of your enemies released with Day-1 Linux support back in May. Here’s the figures their developer gave:
- 93.4 - Windows
- 4.7% - Mac
- 1.9% - Linux
Here’s what the developer of MidBoss had to say about supporting Linux now and in future:
QuoteI feel pretty good about supporting both platforms in MidBoss, particularly since Ethan Lee who made FNA did the ports and it wasn't too expensive. Without him they probably wouldn't have happened.
In the future I'll be using a new, completely custom framework that can create .NET executables as well as JavaScript/WebGL builds from a single C# codebase. We're planning to initially use the web builds with Electron to keep supporting Mac and Linux. This should perform just fine for smaller games such as Ultra Hat Dimension which is probably coming out on Steam in early 2018.
When we do wind up doing a bigger more demanding game again (MidBoss 2? Who knows!) I'll investigate getting the .NET versions working on Mac and Linux too. The .NET side uses OpenTK/OpenGL so it shouldn't be that difficult, hopefully, we just don't have the time/resources right now to go into it.
Milkstone Studios
To my surprise, Milkstone Studios were very open and sent over details about multiple titles!
White Noise 2
- 95.31% - Windows
- 4.06% - OSX
- 0.64% - Linux
Only Linux details given for these:
- Little Racers Street: 12.05%
- Pharaonic: 4.59%
- Ziggurat: 2.19%
- White Noise Online: 0.96%
It’s worth noting, that just before the release of Little Racers Street, I did an interview with Milkstone Studios about the title. That may have helped towards the rather high Linux percentage there.
Here’s what they said about continuing to support Linux:
Milkstone StudiosSeeing these numbers, look like Linux players are more used to single player experiences, so that might be the reason.
We support Linux on a pretty basic level (we're not Linux users ourselves, so we have limited experience with it). Linux support takes up lots of support time (I'd say around 20-25% of our support time is dedicated to addressing Linux issues), and it's hard to justify dedicating our time to this platform if sales for it are low. However, Unity allows for easy generation of Linux builds, and most of the work required for a proper port was done with Ziggurat, so for now we'll continue releasing games with Linux support, and trying to solve issues to the best of our knowledge.
While they weren’t able to give any specific details, I did speak to two of the bigger porters Feral Interactive and Aspyr Media.
Here’s what Feral Interactive had to say:
QuoteThe Linux market remains small in comparison to Mac, and tiny compared to Windows. Three years of bringing AAA games to Linux has taught us a lot about what works in sales terms, and what works less well. Although we had hoped that the Steam Machine would gain more traction, we have been pleasantly surprised by the Linux sales achieved on distros other than SteamOS, and continually encouraged by the passionate (and vocal!) audience of Linux gamers. However, we are disappointed by the promotion of piracy by some, which does disproportionate damage to the economics of bringing games to an already small platform.
Take a look at what Aspyr Media said:
QuoteOur Linux business continues to be an important part of our strategy going forward. We consider Linux a viable platform, and continue to make it a target goal of any deal we strike.
I did reach out to Virtual Programming, but they were extremely busy and didn't have time.
I would like to thank everyone who got back to me. Sadly some didn’t reply, but given how busy developers are actually making games, it’s all good!
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: Whitewolfe80I have seen it justified plenty of times on Reddit
Any examples? Linux users are generally supportive of developers who release for Linux. Anyway, as I said, instead of focusing on piracy itself (which probably will always exist in some form), developers can focus on positive stuff that can reduce it - removing DRM, being more open in their communication to have more direct relationship with the community, and so on. All that builds respect. I.e. it's the opposite of what legacy publishers are normally doing (DRM, complete distancing from the community and etc.). On average, I'd say Linux developers are doing a better job than usual in that. Good examples are companies like inXile, Obsidian and the like.
Last edited by Shmerl on 4 August 2017 at 4:34 pm UTC
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So should Apple (and Microsoft) just say: 'Listen guys, we abandon Metal (or DX11/12 in the case of MS) and support Vulkan. That means if you primiarily game you won't need to use our OS, and hardware either, just go with linux'. Does that make sense for a commercial entity to even consider such a thing?
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Quoting: manus76So should Apple (and Microsoft) just say: 'Listen guys, we abandon Metal (or DX11/12 in the case of MS) and support Vulkan.
Yes, same as Adobe recently did with Flash, saying they will abandon it, and will support HTML (common open standard). MS kind of officially didn't do it with ActiveX and Silverlight, but de-facto did by supporting modern HTML in IE / Edge. I don't see why graphics need to be any worse in this sense. That would be competing on merit (let them make their systems better than the rest, instead of forcing lock-in through tools).
Admittedly, all that happened because HTML won, and balkanized lock-in lost in the browser wars. In graphics situation is far from healthy, with lock-in being very dominant, like early days of the Web with "best viewed in IE" and the like.
Last edited by Shmerl on 4 August 2017 at 5:50 pm UTC
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qptain Nemo Aug 4, 2017
Quoting: manus76So should Apple (and Microsoft) just say: 'Listen guys, we abandon Metal (or DX11/12 in the case of MS) and support Vulkan. That means if you primiarily game you won't need to use our OS, and hardware either, just go with linux'. Does that make sense for a commercial entity to even consider such a thing?Well if the commercial entity sells something actually valuable on its own merits and not snake oil then yes. :D
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Quoting: manus76So should Apple (and Microsoft) just say: 'Listen guys, we abandon Metal (or DX11/12 in the case of MS) and support Vulkan. That means if you primiarily game you won't need to use our OS, and hardware either, just go with linux'. Does that make sense for a commercial entity to even consider such a thing?
Well, the theory of capitalist competition is that people use one product over another because it works better, has nicer features, is cheaper and whatnot. That's what's supposed to be good about it--that this competition stuff will result in good cheap products. If that's not how capitalism really works I don't have a duty to defend its dysfunction. Traditionally the supposed remedy was laws enforcing real competition and disallowing various kinds of anticompetitive behaviour--including, but not limited to, antitrust laws. Again, if the political climate is such that passing or enforcing such laws is impossible, then that's how it is--but if there ought to be a law, then surely one can at least complain.
And if capitalism never actually does the stuff it's supposed to do, if it doesn't "make sense for a commercial entity to even consider such a thing" as actual competition by creating better products rather than by erecting barriers to entry, that doesn't mean I should rearrange my notions of what's OK to include stuff that's harmful, it means I should start questioning the virtues of a system that does not work as advertised.
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Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: manus76So should Apple (and Microsoft) just say: 'Listen guys, we abandon Metal (or DX11/12 in the case of MS) and support Vulkan. That means if you primiarily game you won't need to use our OS, and hardware either, just go with linux'. Does that make sense for a commercial entity to even consider such a thing?
Well, the theory of capitalist competition is that people use one product over another because it works better, has nicer features, is cheaper and whatnot. That's what's supposed to be good about it--that this competition stuff will result in good cheap products. If that's not how capitalism really works I don't have a duty to defend its dysfunction. Traditionally the supposed remedy was laws enforcing real competition and disallowing various kinds of anticompetitive behaviour--including, but not limited to, antitrust laws. Again, if the political climate is such that passing or enforcing such laws is impossible, then that's how it is--but if there ought to be a law, then surely one can at least complain.
And if capitalism never actually does the stuff it's supposed to do, if it doesn't "make sense for a commercial entity to even consider such a thing" as actual competition by creating better products rather than by erecting barriers to entry, that doesn't mean I should rearrange my notions of what's OK to include stuff that's harmful, it means I should start questioning the virtues of a system that does not work as advertised.
Not a personal attack, more an admission of my own failing (and probably dementia): even though I studied English and thought I was pretty competent at it, I haven't understood anything above.
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Quoting: manus76Not a personal attack, more an admission of my own failing (and probably dementia): even though I studied English and thought I was pretty competent at it, I haven't understood anything above.
I think @Purple Library Guy is saying, that monopoly and monopolistic (anti-competitive) practices are reasonably considered harmful to the free market, and normally are supposed to be prevented by anti-trust law and etc. But if the law fails to prevent it (because of political dysfunction, corruption, and so on), it doesn't make those practices any less damaging and crooked, and neither is whitewashing them a good thing.
You can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition_law
Last edited by Shmerl on 4 August 2017 at 6:16 pm UTC
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Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: manus76So should Apple (and Microsoft) just say: 'Listen guys, we abandon Metal (or DX11/12 in the case of MS) and support Vulkan.
Yes, same as Adobe recently did with Flash, saying they will abandon it, and will support HTML (common open standard). MS kind of officially didn't do it with ActiveX and Silverlight, but de-facto did by supporting modern HTML in IE / Edge. I don't see why graphics need to be any worse in this sense. That would be competing on merit (let them make their systems better than the rest, instead of forcing lock-in through tools).
Admittedly, all that happened because HTML won, and balkanized lock-in lost in the browser wars. In graphics situation is far from healthy, with lock-in being very dominant, like early days of the Web with "best viewed in IE" and the like.
It doesn't work like that: if Metal and DX bring Apple and MS money (and they do) then that's all that counts. Any lofty ideas about openness, getting rid of lock-in etc. are irrelevant at that point. You think abandonig flash by adobe was dictated by the company's goodwill and benevolence? The same with other examples, i'm pretty sure it's all dictated by economy and nothing else.
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Quoting: manus76It doesn't work like that: if Metal and DX bring Apple and MS money (and they do) then that's all that counts.
For crooks yes, goals always justify the means. Wasn't that the whole point of the discussion above (in the context of lock-in)? We aren't arguing really.
Last edited by Shmerl on 4 August 2017 at 6:20 pm UTC
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Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: manus76It doesn't work like that: if Metal and DX bring Apple and MS money (and they do) then that's all that counts.
For crooks yes, goals always justify the means. Wasn't that the whole point of the discussion above (in the context of lock-in)? We aren't arguing really.
Probably, I just don't consider them crooks. Anyway thx for the civilised and interesting discussion, let's agree to disagree, move on and enjoy the glorious world of linux gaming, cheers :-)
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