Back in 2017, Valve rolled out a small change to the wishlist feature on Steam that quite a few people still don't know about.
We previously posted about this when the change happened but as always, things get lost and people forget. If you head to this page (click your username -> Preferences) on Steam when you're logged in, scroll to the bottom and you will see this:
The box above doesn't mention it, but this allows developers to see wishlists from a single ticked platform. Why is it important? Well, we speak to a huge amount of game developers and a very common issue we've come across since this was implemented was a very low volume of wishlists from Linux.
A lot lower than you would expect, some of which is naturally due to our lower market share (of course) but also because so many people just don't know this feature even exists. We've also ended up reminding a lot of our readers and followers on this, with a surprising amount of people having no idea it's even a thing.
Since it's a manual process (and only works if you tick just one platform), if you don't go and do it yourself your wishlist entries on Steam don't show up as being for Linux. So it's a feature that sounds good on paper and is well meaning but doesn't work that great in practice.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: lordgaultAnd if I have a dual boot, can I have selected the two systems, Windows and Liux? Would my desired games appear for Linux?
Not if you don't have two steam accounts.
Quoting: NezchanWait, this is already set on my Steam client (I don't remember manually setting it before, so it must have done so automatically), and yet I am able to go search for a Windows game that I've heard is good and works on Proton, put it on my wishlist, and still receive sale emails about it. Pretty sure I've received sale emails about No Man's Sky, for instance. Am I imagining all that?
No, that's exactly how it works. Search still is fully functional.
AND..
I personally want all the games I play to have native Linux versions and I actively buy native Linux and mostly discount Windows titles.
BUT..
If there is a Windows title that is seriously tempting and is low cost, e.g. 90% discount, and I check that it is running nicely on Linux via ProtonDB database... Then... I want to know about it and I might actually buy it. And if I do, then it still counts as a Linux purchase and the developers can see me playing it on Linux (via Proton) for purposes of evaluating marketshare.
As such, I haven't enabled this OS filtering in Steam client myself.
Quoting: g000hAs such, I haven't enabled this OS filtering in Steam client myself.
I didn't see the part you cannot do with having the filter set...
no_information_here Feb 22, 2019
QuoteSince it's a manual process (and only works if you tick one platform), if you don't go and do it yourself your wishlist entries on Steam don't show up as being for Linux.Hmm. Make a hidden setting and need it to be manually changed, then base the success of Linux visibility (for devs) on this setting. Sounds like a brilliant plan. What could go wrong?
Liam, I appreciate your valiant effort to notify people, but this is doomed from the start.
GeoGalvanic Feb 22, 2019
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