In the past, I've spoken to many developers about how their games sold on Linux and this time we have information on Slay the Spire to share.
First, we need to take into account that according to the Steam Hardware Survey that Linux only currently represents around 0.82% of the Steam market. Also, this is only on Steam and so it's not counting Humble Store where it's also sold.
Here's the breakdown the developer provided:
95.5% - Windows
4% - Mac
0.5% - Linux
To me, that's a surprise (the developer was surprised too) as that's quite low even for Linux sales. When doing this before (part 5) it did fluctuate quite a lot between 0.6% up to highs of around 16% (although that was a rare one with FLASHOUT 2 in Part 3).
Obviously a big part of the problem is just how many games there are now across all platforms. Even just on Linux, Steam has somewhere in the region of 5,426 games available and that's not taking into account all the bigger titles that can now be played thanks to Steam Play.
Competition is hotter than ever and being a smaller platform, it isn't obviously helping. It's basically the same story as it always has been—increasing our market share somehow is the only thing that will help. The uphill battle remains and will do for a long time, the important thing is to continue to make sure we're worth the time for the developers who do support Linux. Be helpful when issues arise, put up a review for a game you enjoy, tell those developers you enjoyed it on Linux and so on you get the idea.
Slay the Spire is a popular indie game, one with an "Overwhelmingly Positive" user rating from over 20,000 user reviews and it definitely deserves your attention. It's stolen a lot of time away from me personally, it's fantastic.
You can find Slay the Spire on Humble Store and Steam if you wish to pick up a copy.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: mao_dze_dunI'm stunned why some people can face cold numbers and still refuse to accept reality. The Linux market is TINY which is why game sales are also tiny in percent. A lot of people like to present alternative math by which 10% of all Linux gamers on Steam will always buy any given game. Well guess what - it doesn't work that way. Nobody ports to Linux expecting a profit bar actual porting companies. All in-house ports are a work of love and mad props to developers who actually do them. But next tine a couple of spiteful people (you know exactly who you have) start spitting venom at a developer who plain admits the numbers aren't there - please refer them to this article.
You sound (weirdly) angry, despite the cool tone of the other replies here. As I said earlier, no one is refusing "to accept reality" - it's simply odd that such a popular game has such a low percentage of Linux sales when so many other very similar games do so much better - usually much higher than our "0.5%" market share suggests.
As for whether the number are there or not, that depends. If you're going to sell 1M copies, then sure, 5000 extra sales is pretty meaningless. If you're going to sell 50K, then 5000 extra sales suddenly looks pretty sweet (albeit only one dev has reported close to 10% Linux sales). If my £9 game takes in £6 profit... that's £30K in the bank. That's great, even if Windows and Mac still nets you a more significant £270K.
Either way, the devs have to do the maths. "5000" times "game profit" should, in most cases, cover any expenses related to the Linux version. Not all cases, but certainly most cases. And while you might be right that Linux support is often a work of love, love doesn't pay the bills.
Quoting: scaineAnd while you might be right that Linux support is often a work of love, love doesn't pay the bills.Not THAT kind of love, anyway.
This daily shitpost was sponsored by Powerthirst.
medicalcannabis Feb 7, 2019
Quoting: medicalcannabisThis was not my type of roguelike. I bet I wasn't alone in passing this title by.
What would you say "is" your type of rogue-like?
For me, I like Slay The Spire, FTL: Faster Than Light, Frost, Dicey Dungeons, Darkest Dungeon, Out There: Omega Edition, Delver, Pixel Dungeon, Don't Starve, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Wayward, Haque, Eldritch (and others which I haven't played or considered yet).
Last edited by g000h on 7 February 2019 at 5:40 pm UTC
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