Some rather interesting news here, both Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment (source) have now officially joined Microsoft.
Together, they've made some pretty interesting Linux games such as Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, Tyranny, Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera, The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep and more to come.
Microsoft have been picking up quite a number of studios lately including Ninja theory, Compulsion Games, Undead Labs and also Playground Games so they're continuing to bolster their forces. They're facing huge competition in the console market, so it's likely to help with that more than anything.
News that I am sure will shock some Linux gamers, that's two pretty big studios that have been putting out games for Linux now under the roof of Microsoft. That's a little worrying, but it doesn't mean they will suddenly stop having Linux ports of their games. However, it does make Linux ports of their games slightly less likely I would think. As long as both studios retain a certain amount of freedom, I think we should be okay for future titles. Microsoft loves Linux after all…right?
I have to be honest, I'm a little in shock myself at this news.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Mountain Man Nov 11, 2018
Interesting strategy on Micorsoft's part. Since they realize that Valve's commitment to Linux is a threat to their ability to control the market on the distribution side, they appear to be cutting Linux off at the knees by taking control of the development side.
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Quoting: 14Quoting: liamdaweTogether, they've made some pretty interesting Linux games such as Pillars of Eternity, Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire, Tyranny, Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera, The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep and more to come.I feel like I need to crack out the wallet and buy all of those on GOG now.
i wanted to buy PoE2 in the near future (already have most of the others), but now that that money will go to M$ without them having any contribution to it - no thank you.
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Quoting: NeverthelessValve is not a corporation!Their official name is "Valve Corporation", but they're not a corporation? What?
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wvstolzing Nov 11, 2018
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: NeverthelessValve is not a corporation!Their official name is "Valve Corporation", but they're not a corporation? What?
Probably meant to say that it's not publicly traded; so no 'shareholders', etc. It's a privately held corporation.
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Stupendous Man Nov 11, 2018
It seems all my favourite game studios are being bought out: first Triumph (Age of Wonders) and now Obsidian (and to a lesser extend InXile). What a shame. :-(
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inXile is clearly the bad news. For Obsidian it was already known.
Now it's up to Microsoft to prove they truly love Linxu...
Now it's up to Microsoft to prove they truly love Linxu...
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Nevertheless Nov 11, 2018
Quoting: tuubiQuoting: NeverthelessValve is not a corporation!Their official name is "Valve Corporation", but they're not a corporation? What?
My fault! They're not a stock corporation. I confused names.
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Quoting: Mountain ManInteresting strategy on Micorsoft's part. Since they realize that Valve's commitment to Linux is a threat to their ability to control the market on the distribution side, they appear to be cutting Linux off at the knees by taking control of the development side.Can't imagine that this is aimed at Linux primarily. I'd bet it's meant to be a push for the Windows store, and Linux just happens to be in the line of fire.
The gamer in me really wonders what Obsidian or even inXile could achieve with a bigger budget (assuming Microsoft throws some cash their way), but as a Linux user I guess I will not be able to experience that for myself. I wasn't totally hooked on any of their games, and especially inXile has wasted some potential with T:ToN and BT IV, but PoE was fun and I eventually have to revisit PoE II (stopped playing after the first island).
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wvstolzing Nov 11, 2018
Quoting: gojulinXile is clearly the bad news. For Obsidian it was already known.
Now it's up to Microsoft to prove they truly love Linxu...
Sorry for the off-topic nonsense, but I just had to search for Linxu. The most unambiguous hit belongs to a person named 'Lin Xu', who is a phd candidate in economics at Cornell. So that's interesting, I guess.
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Quoting: NeverthelessQuoting: Whitewolfe80Quoting: NeverthelessQuoting: Whitewolfe80Quoting: NeverthelessQuoting: EikeQuoting: tuubiI don't get all these doomsday attitudes. We probably won't see any more games from these developers on our platform (which certainly makes me sad as a fan), but that's all this means.
With Larian not Porting Divinity 2, that's basically a whole genre (classic CRPGs) gone, no?
With Proton there is just a few games / developers behind walled gardens. The boundaries become more and more not technical.
Well yes and no not having native ports is a big problem because its valve they get white knighted and true they have helped linux because it helps them have an alternative to windows if MS decide to make it difficult to work on windows. Proton is funded by valve and valve does have a patience meter just look at steam machines gone no marketing no mention of them on steam store anymore steam link failed barely mentioned and sold for under a pound last two steam sales. Valve have money and resources but they seem to have a very limited amount of patience.
By closing down Windows MS threatens Valves busyness foundations. So there is two possible ways for Valve to act:
1. Become part of the MS store.
2. Find another open OS base.
I think what Valve does, and did for the past few years, is a very long term enterprise. They never shifted from it, as we can see when we look at Proton. They need Linux, and I think they understood Linux needs more users to be attractive to developers. With the visibility of their strategie they naturally reinforced MS on their strategy. So I guess it's no wonder we see a lot of movement these days:
- Proton makes games playable we never dreamed of.
- Proton makes developers ditch native versions.
- Linux userbase might (hopefully) rise because people that wanted to change to Linux get to play more of their Steam libs on Linux.
- MS might try to deny more games on Linux.
- MS suddenly loves Linux (where it's useful to them).
What we won't see, I think, is Valve stopping what they do.
So from my perspective: F*ck inXile and Obsidian and move on.
Mmm we def see valve differently I see it as a company that abandons products and projects with out any notice after previously being keen and holding press conference after press conference. Valve have helped the visablity of linux gaming for sure but I will never white knight a corporation yes they are helping linux because they expect that investment to pay off. Of course that is to be expected valve is a corporation and needs to make profits yearly I get it but I treat annoucements of support as promises people make in the pub ie it might happen it might not.
Valve is not a corporation! I'm not white knighting them. I say they can't go without an open platform to exist on.
Yes it is
Valve Corporation
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valvesoftware.com
Valve Corporation is an American video game developer, publisher and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam and the Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Portal, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead, that took 3 seconds from wiki
Last edited by Whitewolfe80 on 11 November 2018 at 8:17 pm UTC
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