Stellaris: Apocalypse [Steam] is set to be a pretty big expansion, with lots of goodies to come for Stellaris fans. It's releasing soon, so Paradox has an overview video up.
As a reminder, it will release on February 22nd. As usual for Paradox games, it will also see a big patch release full of fixes and new features free for existing owners.
Without further ramblings, here's their new overview video:
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I honestly can't wait to start blowing up planets, time for my Empire to rule the stars. I've thought for too long the combat in Stellaris was quite lacking, so it's pleasing to see it become the focus for this expansion.
Also, while we're on the subject of Paradox, it seems one person at Paradox Interactive (the publisher, not to be confused with the actual developer, Paradox Development Studio) noticed a decline in Linux sales. Would be a good time to show them it's worth continuing to support us. Here's what they said on Twitter:
[…] Sadly Linux is less than a percent of the sales and keeps dwindling. SteamOS didn't turn out to be what we all hoped. The Linux community needs to grow or spend more to stay viable.
It's a little disconcerting to read, but hopefully they will continue to support Linux gaming for some time. Paradox Interactive do publish a bunch of games that don't support Linux, but perhaps if they see an improvement in future more of their published games (in addition to games directly from Paradox Development Studio, like Stellaris) may see Linux support. A number of their games do cater to a niche, so perhaps their games just aren't as popular as I thought they would be with Linux gamers. I've asked if they can share any specific data about it, so hopefully we can talk about that more in future.
Ps. I realise it can be confusing with the publisher and developer both starting with "Paradox", but they are different. The article text was adjusted after publishing to make it much clearer.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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BabaoWhisky Feb 15, 2018
I'm afraid for the future ... I have all Paradox's games available on Linux ... :(
4 Likes, Who?
But I don't have money for all the games that come for linux! We need less games!
I do have all paradox games though and continue buy them, hopefully they don't stop supporting games quite yet, at least give us Victoria 3 so we can play from dark ages to space conquering without breaks.
I do have all paradox games though and continue buy them, hopefully they don't stop supporting games quite yet, at least give us Victoria 3 so we can play from dark ages to space conquering without breaks.
4 Likes, Who?
I literally was telling a co-worker yesterday how much Linux gamers like Paradox since so many of their games come to Linux, and then I saw the Twitter remark. :'(
2 Likes, Who?
elbuglione Feb 15, 2018
Sadly Linux is less than a percent of the sales and keeps dwindling. SteamOS didn't turn out to be what we all hoped. The Linux community needs to grow or spend more to stay viable.1/2 Million active Linux users only on Steam.. .how many active users are enough to consider Linux a viable market???
Maybe the real problem are the Linux gamers buying Windows games...
Last edited by elbuglione on 15 February 2018 at 5:43 pm UTC
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Kimyrielle Feb 15, 2018
I bought every single one of their games, and will keep doing so.
But we need a bigger push from Valve's end, if we ever want to break through the 1%-2% ceiling. I am also afraid that publishers might get tempted to jump ship if they don't see actual progress with SteamOS anytime soon. Right now it's going waaaaaaay too slow.
But we need a bigger push from Valve's end, if we ever want to break through the 1%-2% ceiling. I am also afraid that publishers might get tempted to jump ship if they don't see actual progress with SteamOS anytime soon. Right now it's going waaaaaaay too slow.
0 Likes
Sorry, Paradox, but DRM-free or it didn't happen. I won't give Valve a cent.
0 Likes
UltraAltesBrot Feb 15, 2018
Sorry, Paradox, but DRM-free or it didn't happen. I won't give Valve a cent.Paradox have their own store selling keys. Steam keys though, but Valve doesn't get a cut there.
Whatever your reasons are to boycot Valve
Edit: Paradox games are DRM free, see here.
Last edited by UltraAltesBrot on 15 February 2018 at 6:07 pm UTC
6 Likes, Who?
BabaoWhisky Feb 15, 2018
All Paradox's games are free ... You can launch them without to launch Steam ...
4 Likes, Who?
[email protected] Feb 15, 2018
I bought Stellaris and all dlc so far.
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Paradox games are DRM free, see here.
Sorry, but I see Steam, Steam and Steam in the link and as we all know Steam does not allow game downloads without its DRM client (and needless to say neither of the three games interests me). I have nothing against Paradox personally (even brought Tyranny on GOG, which shows, they can do DRM-free when they want to).
I'll start using Steam the first minute Valve removes its DRM-client (or makes it optional).
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SteamOS didn't turn out to be what we all hoped
Without AAA games and lack of popular games , what did they expect exactly?
I'm on Linux solely 3 years and in these years i saw several things that won't go away:
1-) Lack of AAA , popular games
2-) Windows experience at ease of use wise
3-) Problematic , half assed drivers both from Nvidia ( prop ) both from AMD ( open source and prop)
AMD ones are missing features or performance wise they suck , Nvidia prop driver refuses to happily integrate with Linux in general ( X problems , Wayland problems , DKMS problems , incompatible kernel problems , Prime Sync ( tearing ) problems , half assed laptop gpu support that leads users to either for Windows or accept suffering for getting past Nmi watchdog lockups etc.
Let's face it . With that rate, Linux gaming will only serve as a indie gaming platform ; nothing more.
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To be clear the quote is from a business guy at the publisher, not the developer. Paradox Interactive, not Paradox Development Studio.
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Kimyrielle Feb 15, 2018
Sorry, Paradox, but DRM-free or it didn't happen. I won't give Valve a cent.
<rant>
You do realize that this attitude is part of what might make bigger publishers reconsider supporting Linux, yes? If you're not buying their games for purely ideological reasons (and that's what it is), they might oblige and stop offering them.
Am I a fan of DRM? Certainly not. But mildly intrusive systems like Steam's are still better than having no games at all. And as others have pointed out, Paradox doesn't even -use- Steam's DRM features, so this makes boycotting them extra-dumb in my book.
This Steam bashing coming from some zealots here makes me angry, in all honesty. Without Valve pushing us, we would have a handful of low-budget, garage-made Indie games and Tux Racer to play. In other words, nothing worth mentioning. I guess I wouldn't even BE here, because I'd still use Windows 99% of the time when playing games, instead of the other way around, which Valve had no small part in making possible.
If people like you would finally put their knuckleheaded ideology away and start buying games from Steam they would have bought from GOG without even thinking twice, publishers like Paradox wouldn't think about dropping support for us. In other words, yes, I think you're a part of the problem here.
PS: I hope you don't have any Android/iOS smartphone, any streaming subscription or cable TV either. All of these have built-in DRM, so you folks have to boycott them, too!
</rant>
Last edited by Kimyrielle on 15 February 2018 at 7:05 pm UTC
20 Likes, Who?
BabaoWhisky Feb 15, 2018
To be clear the quote is from a business guy at the publisher, not the developer. Paradox Interactive, not Paradox Development Studio.
It's the same thing. If Paradox Int. say that Linux is not viable and decide to drop it to publish their game so Paradox Dev Studio will stop to develop Linux version for their games.
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I own a lot of Paradox Games on Linux and I play them quite often. But on the other hand EU4 Multiplayer was broken on Linux for looooong time, so I always had to play the windows version via wine.... But I am looking forward to the new stellaris dlc
Last edited by holzi on 15 February 2018 at 7:16 pm UTC
Last edited by holzi on 15 February 2018 at 7:16 pm UTC
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I own a lot of Paradox Games on Linux and I play them quite often. But on the other hand EU4 Multiplayer was broken on Linux for looooong time, so I always had to play the windows version via wine....
No , problem is not having them or playing them on Linux.
I know so many people ranting about Linux gaming and yet i see them from Steam playing Windows only games. Therefore , they're buying these games on Windows and starting threads on game discussions "port it to Linux." themed.
So as a perspective of a dev ; why should i put effort for a Linux version? You can use Linux and rant about it but eventually you're buying them on Windows.
You're a dual booter too and you're probably have bunch of non Linux games and you keep buying.
Why devs port their games to Linux when even Linux users are buying on Windows? For making someone's dream about " When my library will be equal as Windows one , i will happily ditch Windows " ?
5 Likes, Who?
They maybe expected that Valve's apparent, and indeed claimed, push to make Linux gaming a mainstream thing was real. But Valve's efforts both to make SteamOS a solid gaming platform and to make Steam Machines a thing were half-hearted and have so far produced few results. So I think it's fairly reasonable for Paradox to consider their hopes dashed.SteamOS didn't turn out to be what we all hoped
Without AAA games and lack of popular games , what did they expect exactly?
Consider that both your problems 1 and 3 are susceptible to having money thrown at them, money which Valve didn't throw. It's less obvious that (3) could be solved with money, but seems to me it would be possible to simply pay NVidia to fix their closed driver issues. Sign a contract all nice and specific, NVidia makes their drivers work on Wayland and does other laundry list of things in return for Valve providing one (1) boatload of money. Then it's still all closed and Seekrut so NVidia's happy. It's not the ideal solution, but it would work.
Now that said, Valve has done more for Linux gaming by far than any other entity related specifically to gaming, and I don't think Valve actually owes it to anybody to singlehandedly make Linux a viable mainstream gaming desktop with a significant market share. But they did give people reasons to hope they were going to do that, so it's not unreasonable for someone like Paradox to say "We hoped they were going to do that and it hasn't happened."
I've been saying for years that the current momentum for Linux gaming is threatened if Linux fails to actually pick up market share (although this is mitigated by engine support making cross-platform releases easier for game developers who use them).
(Your problem 2 I don't agree exists--use a distro intended for user friendly and Linux is more user friendly than Windows)
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I've never quite understood the big problem with Steam "DRM". As far as I can tell, I can play my games in offline mode without an internet connection. So, like, the games will play without phoning home. So what's the problem? What Dee Arrs are actually being Emmed here?
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 15 February 2018 at 7:23 pm UTC
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 15 February 2018 at 7:23 pm UTC
3 Likes, Who?
But mildly intrusive systems like Steam's are still better than having no games at all.Yeah-yeah, "It's better than nothing!" (© "Deep Silver" )
I guess I wouldn't even BE here, because I'd still use Windows 99% of the time when playing games, instead of the other way around, which Valve had no small part in making possible.Guess what? Nothing's changed! You still have to use Windows if you want to play modern overhyped AAAAAAAAA-games (like "PUBG" or "Assassin's Creed" ).
And I am, honestly, totally OK with the fact of not being able to play every single game ever made (I would need to get a lot of different game consoles to do so), so I can certainly live without Steam-exclusive games, it's not that I am experiencing a game shortage with 50 purchased but not yet played games on GOG account (and some hundreds of games on "Humble Bundle" account).
If people like you would finally put their knuckleheaded ideology away and start buying games from Steam they would have bought from GOG without even thinking twice, publishers like Paradox wouldn't think about dropping support for us.Like all those GOG users suddenly decided they are OK with DRM and switched to Steam. Sure, that will happen. :P
In other words, yes, I think you're a part of the problem here.No, I am part of the solution! :D
PS: I hope you don't have any Android/iOS smartphone, any streaming subscription or cable TV either. All of these have built-in DRM, so you folks have to boycott them, too!
<self-glorification_mode>
I "rooted" my smartphone and removed all Google-crap from it (using F-droid and totally happy). And yes, I do not have cable-TV (or TV at all) or streaming subscriptions (fsck Tvitch!) because I am trying do be a model citizen and not have bad habits (I also do not smoke or drink) :D
</self-glorification_mode>
Last edited by Alm888 on 15 February 2018 at 7:27 pm UTC
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MeissnerEffect Feb 15, 2018
I have Stellaris but none of the DLC. Suggestions for which DLC to buy?
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