A reader pointed out that the FAQ for the Amazon Lumberyard [Official Site] game engine no longer lists Linux support, so I reached out to Amazon to see what's going on.
Here's what it said originally:
Q. What device platforms does Lumberyard support?
Lumberyard currently supports PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Mobile support for iOS and Android devices is coming soon, along with additional support for Mac and Linux. […]
And now:
Q. What device platforms does Lumberyard support?
Lumberyard currently supports PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS (iPhone 5S+ and iOS 7.0+), and Android (Nexus 5 and equivalents with support for OpenGL 3.0+). Lumberyard also supports dedicated servers on Windows and Linux. Additional support for MacOS is coming soon. […]
I reached out to Amazon about this, since another AAA game engine supporting Linux would have been a really great thing. It seems they haven't seen enough demand for it:
Hi Liam, Lumberyard does support Linux for dedicated servers (which it didn't at the time the FAQ was written). Linux support for servers was a very important request from many of our customers.
As for a Linux-based editor / runtime support, we're keeping a close eye on what our customers are asking for. Right now, there's much more demand for a MacOS editor, which we're working on. If we get more demand for Linux for the editor and runtime, we'll definitely add it to our roadmap.
Thank you for reaching out to us and letting us know that you're interested in Linux support, I've let the team know.
I know there's a few people excited about Star Citizen, which switched over to the Lumberyard game engine, so hopefully this isn't too big a roadblock for them. Well, that's if Star Citizen is ever finished.
The silver lining here, is that not many games are actually using Lumberyard, so it's not a major issue. The most popular game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine do support Linux. I would actually be rather surprised if many developers did use the Lumberyard engine, since Unreal and Unity are so deeply entrenched in the minds of game developers.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: lijuQuoting: Whitewolfe80Quoting: mishugashuHow disappointing. Why do they expect the chicken to come before the egg? If everyone supported Linux, Linux would be a much larger target audience. I can't even imagine how many potential Linux gamers are playing on Windows because of the lack of support.
But there in lies the rub, we need a big time publisher with a big time triple a game to do a day one release on linux so there is no advantage to being on windows. I know there are big ish publishers supporting linux with some of their titles but landing something like COD/BF/Witcher 3 or no way linux companies like Bethesda or Rockstar launching games on linux, would love to see Red Dead 2 but i doubt its even coming to pc at this point.
This is purely hypothethical, unreal comment.. but just imagine RockStar decides to release Red Dead Redemption 2 on consoles and PC Linux only. How would the world react? Would there be unity among the PC windows players to switch over to Linux or rather cry, that rockstar newest engine iteration focuses on Linux instead of windows?
I think in the situation you describe they would dual boot but at least they would try linux.
Quoting: Whitewolfe80It's simply too optimistic to think your average gamer would go through the hassle of installing a new operating system just to play a single game, Rockstar or not. Not that any sane publisher would support Linux and not Windows even as a weird publicity stunt. And we all know that Rockstar is all about mass market appeal, just like Ubisoft and EA.Quoting: lijuThis is purely hypothethical, unreal comment.. but just imagine RockStar decides to release Red Dead Redemption 2 on consoles and PC Linux only. How would the world react? Would there be unity among the PC windows players to switch over to Linux or rather cry, that rockstar newest engine iteration focuses on Linux instead of windows?
I think in the situation you describe they would dual boot but at least they would try linux.
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: Whitewolfe80It's simply too optimistic to think your average gamer would go through the hassle of installing a new operating system just to play a single game, Rockstar or not. Not that any sane publisher would support Linux and not Windows even as a weird publicity stunt. And we all know that Rockstar is all about mass market appeal, just like Ubisoft and EA.Quoting: lijuThis is purely hypothethical, unreal comment.. but just imagine RockStar decides to release Red Dead Redemption 2 on consoles and PC Linux only. How would the world react? Would there be unity among the PC windows players to switch over to Linux or rather cry, that rockstar newest engine iteration focuses on Linux instead of windows?
I think in the situation you describe they would dual boot but at least they would try linux.
Really because I know people that bought wii U to play mario kart and they don't own any other games, No i know that hence the hypothetical argument it would never happen. If you do not know what hypothetical means it means in theory like for example in theory you could pull Angelina Jolie it would never happen but it is a hypothetical scenario.
Last edited by Whitewolfe80 on 14 October 2017 at 7:49 pm UTC
Quoting: Whitewolfe80Hypothesis is a scientific term, meaning an educated guess at an explanation for a phenomenon. What you're describing is a fantasy. Not my fantasy btw.Quoting: tuubiIt's simply too optimistic to think your average gamer would go through the hassle of installing a new operating system just to play a single game, Rockstar or not. Not that any sane publisher would support Linux and not Windows even as a weird publicity stunt. And we all know that Rockstar is all about mass market appeal, just like Ubisoft and EA.
Really because I know people that bought wii U to play mario kart and they don't own any other games, No i know that hence the hypothetical argument it would never happen. If you do not know what hypothetical means it means in theory like for example in theory you could pull Angelina Jolie it would never happen but it is a hypothetical scenario.
Anyway, I know people who wouldn't hesitate to buy an expensive console to play a single game, but think messing with their PC's operating system is something arcane and scary, and much less appealing than walking to a shop and spending a bit of cash. They might perhaps buy something like a Steambox for that game, but wouldn't be any more inclined to use Linux after they're done with it. Nobody cares about the operating system on their console as long as it works. Well okay, we do, but we're not a representative sample.
Last edited by Shmerl on 15 October 2017 at 2:47 am UTC
Nevertheless, with major engines supporting Linux, it becomes easier for developers to make it available for the platform with little effort, and this is the reason we have 2000+ titles already.
Quoting: mishugashuHow disappointing. Why do they expect the chicken to come before the egg? If everyone supported Linux, Linux would be a much larger target audience. I can't even imagine how many potential Linux gamers are playing on Windows because of the lack of support.
They don't expect anything. They just don't see any reason in currently supporting linux.
Most game publishers only care about maximizing profit and will therefore only listen to monetary potential. And that's fine, they're running companies after all. Some of them care about pleasing their (tobe-)customers or wish to improve their image in any way possible, but they're certainly not the majority.
The people/companies who build game engines may often be even more impersonal towards players as they don't always create or publish games themselves and only have to please game devs enough to use their product.
Lack of linux support may turn away certain devs, but not every dev, linux-friendl or not, considers linux support to be a top priority and therefore some of them will probably often sacrifice linux builds in order to work with the game engine they need/want.
There's definitely some long term gain to be made, but there's little to lose in waiting at this point (it's not as if they'd be one of the first linux friendly engines) and that kinda counters things.
I continue to have high hopes for linux gaming, but I understand why companies may sometimes be reluctant to support it.
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