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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Nevertheless Nov 11, 2018
I 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
Video game company
Image result for valve corporation
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
Yes, I already wrote I confused words and meanings. I meant stock corporations. I shouldn't have said it, as it has nothing to do with what I wanted to say...
0 Likes
I'm concerned. o_o That's not the kind of news I'd like to read before going to bed.
1 Likes, Who?
I believe Nevertheless' point is that it's not a publicly traded corporation, the stock is held by Gabe and some Valve employees. Therefore it does not need to worry about the share price or about what traders think of their quarterly results. They do not need to make profits yearly. If they decide some massive investment is worth taking a loss for a couple years to gain future growth, they can do that. Heck, if Gabe and a few others were to decide they don't feel the need to make a profit ever again and want to just wind the thing down slowly and retire, they could do that too. It's not very likely, but they have no outside responsibilities that would actually stop them.I 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
Video game company
Image result for valve corporation
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 Purple Library Guy on 12 November 2018 at 12:15 am UTC
2 Likes, Who?
Nevertheless Nov 12, 2018
I believe Nevertheless' point is that it's not a publicly traded corporation, the stock is held by Gabe and some Valve employees. Therefore it does not need to worry about the share price or about what traders think of their quarterly results. They do not need to make profits yearly. If they decide some massive investment is worth taking a loss for a couple years to gain future growth, they can do that. Heck, if Gabe and a few others were to decide they don't feel the need to make a profit ever again and want to just wind the thing down slowly and retire, they could do that too. It's not very likely, but they have no outside responsibilities that would actually stop them.I 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
Video game company
Image result for valve corporation
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
Holy crap, am I that unclear? :) Yes that's exactly what I meant, only that it wasn't really important for my point. Therefore, sorry for all the confusion! My point was that I did not white knight Valve. I think Valve really needs Linux, if they truely believe in FOSS or not. They cannot just lose interest in it, because it's important for their future. There is simply no other PC-OS with better chances against Windows.
0 Likes
I believe Nevertheless' point is that it's not a publicly traded corporation, the stock is held by Gabe and some Valve employees. Therefore it does not need to worry about the share price or about what traders think of their quarterly results. They do not need to make profits yearly. If they decide some massive investment is worth taking a loss for a couple years to gain future growth, they can do that. Heck, if Gabe and a few others were to decide they don't feel the need to make a profit ever again and want to just wind the thing down slowly and retire, they could do that too. It's not very likely, but they have no outside responsibilities that would actually stop them.I 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
Video game company
Image result for valve corporation
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
It's not like GabeN is going to go broke any time soon. In October 2017, Forbes listed him among the 100 richest people in the United States.
0 Likes
Noooooooooo!Even if they keep releasing for Linux (which I doubt), the quality of their products will drop to M$ level.
Too bad, I've really enjoyed Obsidian games both for quality and Linux support. I hope I'm wrong about this.
I have a bad feeling about this.
Last edited by Skipperro on 12 November 2018 at 8:07 am UTC
1 Likes, Who?
Sad. I love the Obsidian and inXile games. And I do not have much hope of continued releases for Mac/Linux for any new titles. They want to bolster their platform, and a good way is to buy off creators of popular developers/publishers releasing for other platforms.
0 Likes
I have backed Wasteland 2, Torment: Tides of Numenera, The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep and Wasteland 3, I hope inXile keep making them.
1 Likes, Who?
PublicNuisance Nov 12, 2018
Worst case this signals the end of native Linux games from both companies and possibly even future games being locked to the Windows store. Anyone who disagrees has a much more rosy view on Microsoft's history than I do. Before you say they have changed answer this: what have they done for Linux that didn't simply benefit the Windows platform ? EEE in full swing here.
0 Likes
slaapliedje Nov 12, 2018
Yeah, but this only really means that they were hurting for money. If you have followed him as long as I have, you'll know this probably pained him to do, unless the contract was 'we'll give you money to develop things, just don't put them on PS4, but do whatever you do best.' then I see it sucking for him. He shopped around wasteland 2 apparently for years and years and no one wanted to publish it.One thing is not overly clear to me: do they own Neverwinter Nights too ?
Nope, Neverwinter Nights was developed by Bioware / Published by "Atari" and now being done by Beamdog (Enhanced Edition). Obsidian did the 2nd one. Just like they did the 2nd Knights of the Old Repulic.
I feel saddest for Brian Fargo. He started inXile after Interplay went bust so that he could make his own games again. Granted I am sure MS gave him a hefty paycheck, so I don't feel too bad for the guy...
Who do you think negotiated the deal it was Brian Fargo getting paid
These days unless the game can have a billion DLCs and Season Passes and can keep making money for the publisher without having to put in much other than maybe some artwork and dialog, then it doesn't get made.
0 Likes
I hope Valve is paying attention to this, Shots are being fired directly at Valve i am awaiting your response to Microsoft..... Artifact is not it.
0 Likes
slaapliedje Nov 13, 2018
PoE II didn't do great according to this guy.Heh, some of the people replying to that shows why it didn't do well. Complaints about isometric RPGs, old graphics, favoring JRPGs, claiming faux D&D rules...
Makes me glad I don't normally read tweets.
Here is my question... inXile and Obsidian are both mostly known for their RPGs that are very computer oriented... why would Microsoft want to buy them for Xbox gamers? I seriously feel it is more to slight Linux users. But Wasteland 2 did get released on all platforms / Operating systems. (Well, maybe not the Switch). So what, now the games will only be released on the Windows Store and Xbox? Will their sales be increased because of that? I doubt it....
0 Likes
Naive question but did those game sell well ?Yes
http://steamspy.com/app/291650 1M+
http://steamspy.com/app/240760 500K+
http://steamspy.com/app/362960 200k+
but less than the divinity games
2 Likes, Who?
I've bought Tyranny (Gold Edition), Pillars of Eternity II and Tides of Numenera now. I won't have time to play any of them at the moment, but they are great games for sure and I'll enjoy them some day. I want to give those who are supporting (have been supporting) Linux my money as long as they have not yet been bought.
Last edited by Eike on 13 November 2018 at 11:33 am UTC
Last edited by Eike on 13 November 2018 at 11:33 am UTC
0 Likes
Very sad news for me as a Linux gamer. If there will be PC CRPG games from Obsidian in the future, they will be of course Windows 10/Xbox exclusive. And Windows 10 has always been and will ever be a no-go for me. I will never betray my beliefs and values just to play a game that is exclusive on that OS.
I not only loved Obsidian for their superb games, but also for the multi platform releases. I fear, this is now history, because MS for sure won't tolerate Linux releases on Steam (thank you Steam for your efforts you take for the Linux gaming) or even DRM free on GoG.
It's so sad to see another studio selling out to such a greedy company.
Goodbye, Obsidian.
I not only loved Obsidian for their superb games, but also for the multi platform releases. I fear, this is now history, because MS for sure won't tolerate Linux releases on Steam (thank you Steam for your efforts you take for the Linux gaming) or even DRM free on GoG.
It's so sad to see another studio selling out to such a greedy company.
Goodbye, Obsidian.
4 Likes, Who?
Kimyrielle Nov 13, 2018
Yeah, why would the world want medium sized studios anyway! Or any smaller business that doesn't completely dominate both its market and its customers. Bigger is better, right?
...
Right...
...
Right...
3 Likes, Who?
Tyranny had a no executable error. I had to copy the Tyranny.x64 (or something along these lines) executable to the "Tyranny" file that was expected by Steam. Is this a know problem?
0 Likes
Naive question but did those game sell well ?Its a niche so not mainsteam numbers there in lies the problem yes you can make a smash hit game on an indie budget but the follow up is hard because of a number of reasons. First time around it was new and you may of had youtubers and twitch steamers playing your game alot raising its profile the sequel that is not guarenteed.
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