Sad news today Linux gamers, Psyonix emailed us directly to make sure we saw the news that they're officially ending support of Rocket League on Linux and macOS.
Their published statement on this was quite short and didn't really explain much:
As we continue to upgrade Rocket League with new technologies, it is no longer viable for us to maintain support for the macOS and Linux (SteamOS) platforms. As a result, the final patch for the macOS and Linux versions of the game will be in March. This update will disable online functionality (such as in-game purchases) for players on macOS and Linux, but offline features including Local Matches, and splitscreen play will still be accessible.
If you purchased Rocket League for Mac or Linux on Steam, the game will still work with full functionality when installed and played on a computer running Windows 7 or newer.
So the Linux and macOS versions will still be there, but left old and online play will be disabled. Not good. Not good at all and as a huge Rocket League fan I'm not pleased—annoyed you might say.
This "new technologies" bit was interesting, perhaps they've decided to go DirectX 12 with an Unreal Engine upgrade? At this point we can only speculate with so little information. In the expanded support page, for Linux they mentioned playing Rocket League with Steam Play Proton is possible although they will not be supporting it.
When Psyonix became part of Epic Games back in May last year, many speculated that Rocket League would not only drop Linux support but also leave Steam. I didn't think either would happen but here we are, Psyonix has still never said they will continue to sell the game on Steam only that it would see "continued support". Originally, I thought meant it would go free to play, but with this move it seems a little more likely it will move over to the Epic Store which doesn't support Linux.
Update: Psyonix are now suggesting to request a refund from them on their support portal.
Update 2 - 24/01: Psyonix are now telling us "macOS and Linux players can reach out directly to Steam to request refunds and they will be honored. In these cases, Steam will make an exception to their 2 hours limit rule.". Their own support ticket team are now also saying to ask Steam for the refund, although Valve has denied my own refund twice.
In situations like this, Valve ideally need a better support system in place or at least an option of platform removal to get around the usual way. As we end up going in circles.
Update 3: After making their PR team aware what was going on with the refund situation, they've now released a statement on Reddit. Refunds will be accepted on Steam now, plus they gave the reason behind removing Linux and macOS support.
It's what I suspected as written above, they're upgrading to a higher version of Direct X which is a problem as the "macOS and Linux native clients depend on our DX9 implementation for their OpenGL renderer to function" and they're not willing to put resources into Vulkan/Metal for Linux/macOS when the combined player-base was apparently "0.3%" of the active total and when "viable workarounds exist" with Wine being mentioned.
They could have gone for Vulkan though to get Windows + Linux (and Stadia) and possibly even macOS with MoltenVK. It's a shame another company decided to stick with a proprietary API. That said, it may not have been possible if they're on quite an old version of Unreal Engine.
If you do get a refund for it, be sure you use that Steam Wallet funding for a developer that does support Linux. Make it count.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
leillo1975 Jan 23, 2020
Quoting: MalQuoting: leillo1975I think that we must make a community petition to Psyonix for ask for a refund. Maybe that way they'll see the bad face of removing the support
They've already shown you the middle finger once. I don't see why ask for another one.
Many Linux and Mac users asking together for a refund might make them think a bit more about this.
Mohandevir Jan 23, 2020
Quoting: Liam DaweAgain, Proton is not the answer for online games.
In fact, what is really sad is that even native builds are no guarantee... We just got another proof of that (along with Natural Selection 2). Due to the rate of updates involved in those games, Linux is really vulnerable when it comes to online games.
Fortunately, I'm not a big fan of online games and got my copy of RL when I bought one of my Steam Controllers... When it wasn't even available on Linux... And that's another juicy chapter of RL on Linux... Oh well... We saw it coming, but it's not less frustrating.
Could the "unpopular" decisions Psyonix made lately turned out to be their downfall? The game might still be popular, but are the incomes as good as it once was? Could it play a part as to why they decided to drop MacOS and Linux? That's the usual pattern...
Last edited by Mohandevir on 23 January 2020 at 9:10 pm UTC
We live far appart and play it locally on a PS4 once a year. So, to practice and get better, I bought it.
5 hours logged in :/
Last edited by llorton on 23 January 2020 at 9:24 pm UTC
Quoting: GoboI despise anyone who votes for Rocket League in the Linux Game of the Year Award, especially in the category "Favourite long-term supported game". Not only because of the ended support, but considering it took them years to release a Linux version. They kept teasing, promising and delaying for a long time.I've removed it, it's no longer eligible to be in our awards.
It's also nominated in "Best update received in 2019".
leillo1975 Jan 23, 2020
Quoting: vskyeWell, that sucks. I've been meaning to play this game more, since I only have 2 hours of play time. But with online play stopping in March, I might as well uninstall it.
With only 2 hour of play time, you can ask for a refund on steam. At least you can try.
Last edited by leillo1975 on 23 January 2020 at 9:18 pm UTC
Quoting: GuestI knew it!These news were only a question of time. And I never bought that game. Seemed so much fun. I considered it
though. But now it's out of my game acquisition list permanently.I won't even play it using proton. It also really annoys me that epic's free game giving campaign. Soon they give rocket league for free! But I'm not easily bribed.
Epic games can keep their free games.I'm not interested.
I want to know what deal epic have with creators of "free" games. If epic pay them per gifted game, i think is better accept gift and never play it :-D
Quoting: leillo1975Quoting: MalQuoting: leillo1975I think that we must make a community petition to Psyonix for ask for a refund. Maybe that way they'll see the bad face of removing the support
They've already shown you the middle finger once. I don't see why ask for another one.
Many Linux and Mac users asking together for a refund might make them think a bit more about this.
What you wish for is a class action not a petition. And I'm no lawyer but I'd be surprised if it can be done. It would be to naive on their part (but hey, I'd love to be wrong!).
Every other not legally binding initiative would only grant us another middle finger.
Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: GoboI despise anyone who votes for Rocket League in the Linux Game of the Year Award, especially in the category "Favourite long-term supported game". Not only because of the ended support, but considering it took them years to release a Linux version. They kept teasing, promising and delaying for a long time.I've removed it, it's no longer eligible to be in our awards.
It's also nominated in "Best update received in 2019".
I don't care either way (I last played in 2017), but the awards are for 2019, when it did support Linux. Removing their eligibility for 2019 awards due to decision announced in 2020 seems wrong?
Cheeseness Jan 23, 2020
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