Steam now has a form of platform-specific wishlisting, to help developers see demand

This should have been available a long time ago.
Seems weird consumers can tweak their end but devs cannot.

This really fits in with my use of the Wishlist. I not only add stuff I want that's available for my platform, but also stuff that's not in order to keep an eye on it in case it becomes available in the future. The fact that this can be used as an indication of interest works for me, and it's a bit more elegant than counting +1's on the forums.

Maybe this will make developers asking Linux users for port demand in Steam forums obsolete and give them some proper numbers they can actually work with.

Nice! I have had the settings to only show Linux/SteamOS games on for a long time, so I hope I don't have to remove/readd items on my wishlist to have it working?

Now I'll have to go over the full list of steam games and add all those windows/mac-only titles that I'd like to see ported...

It would be interesting to see how those stats look like for some of the highly demanded games, like The Witcher 3.


Last edited by pb on 6 December 2017 at 11:12 pm UTC

Time to add Skyrim , Doom 2016 , Witcher 3 and so many AAA's on my wishlist huh.

Challenge accepted Steam.

Also PUBG.


Last edited by Leopard on 6 December 2017 at 11:16 pm UTC

I'm not sure how useful this will be. It doesn't count people who dual boot but prefer Linux, and people who don't know about this feature may not bother wishlisting games they can't play (personally, I use the "follow" function for games I'm hoping get ported, and only wishlist them if and when they do). I kinda feel like this could actually make demand look even smaller than it actually is.

Quoting: Smoke39I'm not sure how useful this will be. It doesn't count people who dual boot but prefer Linux, and people who don't know about this feature may not bother wishlisting games they can't play (personally, I use the "follow" function for games I'm hoping get ported, and only wishlist them if and when they do). I kinda feel like this could actually make demand look even smaller than it actually is.

Agreed , since i was only wishlisting games with an actual port but if this can help a bit ; why not?

Quoting: Smoke39I'm not sure how useful this will be. It doesn't count people who dual boot but prefer Linux, and people who don't know about this feature may not bother wishlisting games they can't play (personally, I use the "follow" function for games I'm hoping get ported, and only wishlist them if and when they do). I kinda feel like this could actually make demand look even smaller than it actually is.

Seriously. Given that the wishlist is already kinda of unwieldy due to the complete lack of filtering, why would we want to clutter it up even more with stuff *we can't even play*? And what happens when a well-meaning friend/relative sees it there and buys it for us? :/ I'm glad Steam is trying help with Linux, but this particular plan is rather less than half-baked.

I only wishlist games that are on Linux, since my less-techy friends and family often buy me birthday/Christmas gifts from it (it's either that or socks!).

If I start wishlisting non-Linux games, I'm inevitably going to end up receiving Steam gifts that I can't play. :(

Quoting: WorMzyIf I start wishlisting non-Linux games, I'm inevitably going to end up receiving Steam gifts that I can't play. :(

I'm in much the same bind. But I'm pretty careful about arranging my list with the stuff I want most at the top, and everyone who buys from it knows that, so it might be safe to put a few non-Linux things on the end.

On the upside, it's another sign that Valve hasn't given up on Linux.

Quoting: Leopardif this can help a bit ; why not?

That's the question. An "automagic" statistic could reveal interest that voluntary participation in an obscure +1 thread buried in a forum might not, but on the other hand false negatives like the ones I mentioned coupled with the confidence of the almighty "analytics" could do more harm than good.

I'm not saying this is gonna doom Linux gaming or anything -- we're a small niche no matter how you slice it -- I just question the implementation.

Soooo, everybody wishlist PUBG?

Now I just have to be careful not buy a Windows game when a Steam sale comes around and its on my wishlist..

There is one BIG problem with this though. Not all Linux gamers are going to want to set their Account Preferences to only show Linux/SteamOS games in Search Results. I like to see all the games on Steam, and not just the Linux ones - even though I might favour the purchase of Linux games 99% of the time, there will be a tiny bit of interest in games available on other platforms.

So, the whole point of "this will show how keen Linux gamers are on our game" is completely lost. It only shows the really hardcore Linux players, who have deliberately made this setting active.

Personally I hope the developers realise how flawed this statistic actually is!!!

Just added Bioshock 1 + 2, Borderlands 1, and the Witcher 1 + 3 since we have some games from those franchises on Linux. Hopefully developers pay attention :)

+1 for the linux version.

wait, what ? isnt that what this topic is about?
i guess they were tired of this kind of spaming

and, looks like valve is quite "optmistic"....
2000 persons want the game on windows, but only 2 on linux want the game on their example...


Last edited by elmapul on 7 December 2017 at 12:46 am UTC

Quoting: g000hThere is one BIG problem with this though. Not all Linux gamers are going to want to set their Account Preferences to only show Linux/SteamOS games in Search Results. I like to see all the games on Steam, and not just the Linux ones - even though I might favour the purchase of Linux games 99% of the time, there will be a tiny bit of interest in games available on other platforms.

So, the whole point of "this will show how keen Linux gamers are on our game" is completely lost. It only shows the really hardcore Linux players, who have deliberately made this setting active.

Personally I hope the developers realise how flawed this statistic actually is!!!

Not only that, but by setting this preference to show only linux games, you only see linux games. I've had it set for a while and with a few exceptions your store page only shows linux titles, your discovery queue only shows linux titles, and your recommendations are linux titles.

Essentially, if you are only seeing linux titles, how much time are you going to spend searching directly for windows titles to wishlist... Unless they plan on removing the ability to only show linux games... which would be quite annoying.

Personally, their logic in doing this must be flawed. (IMO) It turns the preference and the wishlist into a kitchen sink... the more it does the less well it does everything. They should have added a separate function.

The idea of a wishlist on shopping sites is to let friends know what you want to encourage buying gifts. Or for a person to use to remind them of things they like for later purchase. How happy will customers be if someone buys you a gift off your wishlist only to realize that you will not play it because it doesn't exist on your platform?

Liam, could.you reach out and check what will happen to existing wish list items? It sounds as if it is only from this point forward.

Someone who developed this function couldn't think 5 minutes ahead.

I think this is a good thing. Seeing numbers of actual individuals pointed out gotta be encouraging, whether they're 100% accurate or not. You can't take the wishlist numbers of Windows users at face value either anyway. Not all of them will buy your game soon or at all.