It seems my recent article about Valve removing the link to the Steam Machines page caused quite a stir, so Valve have now confirmed their continued support for Linux gaming.
Truthfully, I wasn't expecting my article to do anything, however I seem to have vastly underestimated just how many eyes there are on us now. Many larger tech and gaming sites picked it up from us like PC Gamer, Ars Technica (who amusingly called us a "fan site"), VG247 and so on. Many more sites then picked up the news from them (some claiming it was originally reported by others—oh well, can't win them all) and so it ended up as a much bigger story.
We've had quite a lot of emails and notifications about this, including a Valve rep emailing us directly to link us to this post by Pierre-Loup Griffais, where they state that the removal of the Steam Machines link was part of a "routine cleanup" where it was removed based on "user traffic".
They go on to state rather clearly, that their plans haven't really changed. They're still committed to making Linux a great place for games and applications, including those not using Steam. The most important part of their post, to me at least, is this:
At the same time, we're continuing to invest significant resources in supporting the Vulkan ecosystem, tooling and driver efforts. We also have other Linux initiatives in the pipe that we're not quite ready to talk about yet; SteamOS will continue to be our medium to deliver these improvements to our customers, and we think they will ultimately benefit the Linux ecosystem at large.
It's going to be very interesting to find out what these initiatives are that they're not currently ready to talk about, quite exciting.
It's really good to see a public comment from Valve on this, as I said constantly in the past that SteamOS and Steam Machines would never be an overnight success. Valve is clearly in it for the long game and so are we.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Mohandevir Apr 4, 2018
Quoting: ArdjeBecause non of the partners were actually selling them, with the exception for alienware and zotac. In that respect: the zotac >> alienware in specs, so I now have a zotac for 1.5 years. No new steam branded machines have been "designed" since.
I think valve should make the branding more like "steamos compatible" instead of steam machine.
I really like my ZOTAC NEN. At €900 it was hardly a "PC console", but I got what I wanted: a capable machine in a teeny-tiny box.
ZOTAC seems to be the only maker of small form factor gaming PCs that is actually doing fine. Perhaps instead of "steamos compatible", Valve could actually work directly with ZOTAC like they work with HTC on Vive? And changing the vision of Steam Machines from "$400 box that plays last year indies" to "a powerful, unobtrusive PC in your living room"? Perhaps even today ZOTAC could re-brand some of their Magnus line mini PCs as Steam Machines, pre-install SteamOS, throw in a Steam Controller? The challenge is that few of Magnuses are below $1100 these days...
Nevertheless Apr 4, 2018
Quoting: GuestThey helped test it I think, and also help to fund various areas and initiatives (including LunarG). I suspect that money was used to make MoltenVK open source.
Valve are actually quite active in the Vulkan department - so much so that I don't doubt they have continued GNU/Linux plans.
In a nutshell P.L.G. says: We continue to support Linux, because we believe in open platforms. We did this and this and Molten VK for Linux... Only that Molten VK is in no way directly aimed at Linux. It's a conversion tool from Vulkan to Metal. So if we want to understand what Valves strategy really is, this detail has to fit in.
In my opinion the best explanation is: It's meant to be a pro-Vulkan-multi-platform / anti-DX12-domination tool, and it's aimed to help Linux in the long run. The fact that Khronos announced, that a DX12 / Vulkan conversion tool is to follow just supports that.
Last edited by Nevertheless on 4 April 2018 at 1:51 pm UTC
Quoting: NonjuffoI have to admit that it took me a while to understand why being called a "fan site" was bad. After all this is a site mostly for fans(?) of Linux gaming. Then the connotation came to me via a flashback from 1998: Comic Sans, frames with scrollbars on all sides, animated "under construction" GIFs and borderline psychedelic color schemes. Ah Internet, you were so pure and full of promise once.It made me laugh more than anything, as in, what do you have to do to be taken seriously? I'm not sure how they intended it, hopefully not in the snobbery way.
Mohandevir Apr 4, 2018
Quoting: liamdaweQuoting: NonjuffoI have to admit that it took me a while to understand why being called a "fan site" was bad. After all this is a site mostly for fans(?) of Linux gaming. Then the connotation came to me via a flashback from 1998: Comic Sans, frames with scrollbars on all sides, animated "under construction" GIFs and borderline psychedelic color schemes. Ah Internet, you were so pure and full of promise once.It made me laugh more than anything, as in, what do you have to do to be taken seriously? I'm not sure how they intended it, hopefully not in the snobbery way.
Still, you got the news out before them... Not bad for a "fan site". Lol!
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-04-04-its-true-steam-machines-arent-exactly-flying-off-the-shelves
You might want to not look in the comment section of the article if you find yourself easily triggered. Gotta say, I find a lot of the comments there extremely disturbing/disgusting/ignorant.
elbuglione Apr 4, 2018
Quoting: ShmerlQuoting: stretch611Ars picked up that story from here? Wow, call me shocked. Ars pretty much ignores linux... except for a few small server related articles once every six months or so.
They don't usually write about Linux, but they did report about Steam Machines in the past, so it's not unexpected to see a follow up. However amount of anti-Linux comments for that article is really weird, as well as some trying to justify exclusives and lock-in as a valid methodology.
"some trying to justify exclusives and lock-in as a valid methodology"
Sadly... is valid, because is working!
Quoting: elbuglione"some trying to justify exclusives and lock-in as a valid methodology"
Sadly... is valid, because is working!
It has no place in FOSS-philosophy, even when there's a proprietary store front in middle. We have to be better than that. Only a greedy "triple AAA" video games executive could propose something like that. I sometimes see consumers of consoles applauding exclusives and it's turning me completely insane. Why would a consumer ever think it benefits them? I want gaming on Linux to be successful too, but copying the market strategy of popular consoles is the worst way to go. Instead, we need to make people aware of the benefits of FOSS and why they should be afraid of the big corporations shoving proprietary software down their throats, locking them in their ecosystem and turning the consumer into products. People who are aware starts looking for alternatives and those alternatives already exist but the awareness does not.
Last edited by Brisse on 4 April 2018 at 4:17 pm UTC
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