Note: Multiple updates at the bottom.
Sad news, Facepunch are no longer selling the Linux version of their survival game Rust [Official Site] after removing mentions of Linux support yesterday from their Steam page.
Linux support has been available in Rust since 2013, along with continued support during Early Access and after the official release earlier this year. It was a bit of a surprise that we got an email from a reader, to mention that the Steam store page for Rust was no longer showing the SteamOS/Linux icon or listing it in the system requirements.
Thinking it was a mistake, since nothing was announced, I reached to Facepunch to which they replied with:
Hey dude - yeah we stopped selling Rust for Linux.
I did request more information as to why and will update this article if I receive any further information. To be fair, they haven't had a lot of time to respond again yet, but I feel it's important to get the word out.
It's possible it's due to issues with the Unity game engine, which has suffered some nuisance problems with their Linux support lately. We've gone through black screens, no input in fullscreen and the latest being double-input issues—all issues that have plagued a number of games that use Unity. All of which have been solved in updated versions of Unity though. Still, it has become more of a hassle for developers to support us due to issues like this repeatedly coming up.
To be clear on something though, it might only mean that they're not actively advertising it as a Linux supported game, while still allowing Linux users to buy it and play it—something a few other developers do as well. I highly doubt they would actually remove the Linux version, after it being around for so long.
Really sad about this, we have an active community-run server with plenty of people enjoying themselves on it. Sin has livestreamed plenty of it on our Twitch Channel, purchased skins and all. With all the additions to the game, it was really becoming quite interesting. Even I was also going to be jumping back in soon, so this has me a little down as I did quite enjoy the game as well.
As always, please remain respectful in the comments. Issues like this can become quite heated, but let's not go throwing any insults around. Now is a time to show your support, not have a war of words.
Updates
Garry responded on Twitter and said this:
We stopped selling Rust on Linux because we won't/don't give it the QA support it needs. There are situations where there's a Unity Linux bug that pops up, and we ship with it - because it's the right decision for 99.99% of our players.
And while 60% of Linux users are fine with this, they understand their position in this world, it's probably not the right thing to act like it's fine. So while we're still going to ship Linux updates and keep it up to date.. we're not going to sell it anymore.
Also Linux Community - being abusive, demanding, rude to the few developers actually shipping games to your favourite OS isn't the way to go. It makes me regret ever shipping Linux versions.
I've said it before and I will say it again: Developers are human, people do need to understand that and not resort to throwing insults around right away. Even so, if you sell a game on any platform you should be doing QA on it—there's no excuse for not doing it.
Update #2 - Here's what another developer said on Reddit:
Linux is and will still be supported but the decision to remove Linux from purchase was mainly based on multiple issues in the current Unity version (2018.1.4).
We're currently unable to downgrade to a Unity version which corrects these Linux issues and we're unable to upgrade Unity to 2018.2 due to a number of new issues.
Linux is in a state of limbo in which we're unable to resolve, instead of selling a broken platform we decided to remove it from purchase but still offer it to existing players.
Once Linux is in a working state we'll review the decision.
Hat tip to Basiani for letting us know.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Gary was probably referring to people, who lose their shit when their game stops working or has a bug or harasses them eternally, instead of just submitting a bug report that is not a personal hate message towards the developer of the game then waiting it out...
I never liked the game, it took so many years to figure out what it was. then it just turned into a inventory simulator with lots of grinding. Then they added in Vines that obsoleted locking editing access to walls from people that are restricted making walls pointless.
That and most people usually only play for the first couple of days after reset on most servers then servers depopulate. Don't personally see much loss in the game leaving the platform. But both users and devs could be a lot more civil to each other.
QuoteLinux is and will still be supported but the decision to remove Linux from purchase was mainly based on multiple issues in the current Unity version (2018.1.4).Added to the article.
We're currently unable to downgrade to a Unity version which corrects these Linux issues and we're unable to upgrade Unity to 2018.2 due to a number of new issues.
Linux is in a state of limbo in which we're unable to resolve, instead of selling a broken platform we decided to remove it from purchase but still offer it to existing players.
Once Linux is in a working state we'll review the decision.
Quoting: liamdaweAdded to the article.
That explains it.
Maybe they would like to proceed in the future similarly as Bohemia Interactive does with Arma 3. They don't advertise it officially, but new people also get the Linux binary. It is not optimal, but perhaps the best solution under the given circumstances.
QuoteAlso Linux Community - being abusive, demanding, rude to the few developers actually shipping games to your favourite OS isn't the way to go. It makes me regret ever shipping Linux versions.
I highly doubt that the Linux community is any more toxic than the gaming community in general. I highly suspect it is the opposite. I think it's important not only for us as consumers to acknowledge our low market share and act rationally when at times we are given a low priority, but for developers to acknowledge that just because we have that low market share that every Linux user is not going to be forgiving of shoddy development practices.
I personally feel it was disingenuous to call out the Linux community like that when they were the ones who weren't allocating resources to the platform in the first place. They already mentioned they were having problems with nvidia and unity, no need to shift blame on to the Linux community as well.
I wish the developers the best of luck, sorry Linux didn't work out for you.
QuoteLinux is in a state of limbo in which we're unable to resolve, instead of selling a broken platform we decided to remove it from purchase but still offer it to existing players.
This makes sense, better to be honest about the current state of the game than to have people try to play it on Linux and experience difficulties. Good decision.
What strikes me as weird is him then saying stuff like
QuoteAlso Linux Community - being abusive, demanding, rude to the few developers actually shipping games to your favourite OS isn't the way to go. It makes me regret ever shipping Linux versions.
Hang on, mate, isn't that just the Linux community being blunt, outspoken and sarcastic, maybe a little controversial? Suddenly if it's someone else being a bit forthright, that's not OK and he gets to be what he would no doubt call a snowflake? If you're going to be insisting others have a thick skin, you should maybe cultivate one of your own. Contrariwise, if someone's going to insist that everyone be sweet and nice and polite to them, then perhaps they should put a rein on their blunt outspoken sarcasm. One set of rules, friend. To put it the old fashioned way, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 27 July 2018 at 11:59 pm UTC
Quoting: kfWell, he's allowed to. And you are too, in general. But not on this forum, I believe.Quoting: EgonautYes. Unless you live in a country without free speech, he is allowed to be as condescending and insulting as he wants, fascist.Quoting: kfWell, He's a Brit.So because someone is from Britain, he's allowed to insult others? Interesting..
Quoting: KristianIt is ever possible to infer that a person hates something or someone without an explicit statement saying so? Just based on their actions and words? I am just wondering.Of course. Not 100%--but then, even if someone says "I hate X" they could be lying, so explicit statements don't make certainty either. But c'mon, I'm sure there's been Grand Wizards of the KKK who would steadfastly refuse to say they hated blacks, but after they ordered a few lynchings I think you could probably make an inference.
I won't say that this Garry guy is a case for such an inference, but there are plenty of cases where it's really not hard.
OLucasZanella Jul 28, 2018
Game doesn't always work when bought for Linux
Dev's pull game for sale
Dev's promise to continue to push updates to Linuxers who bought the game
Dev's will consider selling again if/when they can fix the problems
Ummm..... Sad, but kinda reasonable?
I'd hate to see what some of us would do when we go to the grocery and find the Lettuce was pulled due to contamination... I'd feel victimized too if I had only Kale available...
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