A note on using Steam Play Proton and counting the sales for Linux (updated)

"early stage" he says, yet Proton already allows me to play so many great games effortlessly. I can't wait to see where it keeps going.


Last edited by RickAndTired on 10 February 2020 at 11:05 pm UTC

How do you even know, after having bought a game, if it was counted as a Windows or Linux sale?

You can't know unfortunately. Only the developer will see that data. That's why this was discovered, because the user was friends with the dev and was able to cross-check the data.

Oof... lots of games bought on Linux and then not counted as Linux games... oh dear, that's quite a loss in visibility, hm?
I've bought quite some games since the release of Proton to play those games on Linux, and I'd really like the devs to see those numbers. But I probably haven't played them in since I bought them, and iirc the platform you bought the games on counts then.

Someone mentioned in that reddit thread that the "timer" should count down upon first launching the game. Sounds pretty good to me at first glance, not sure of any unintended side-effects of it though. I have a few games that I would use Proton for that I haven't even launched yet after buying, so it's unfortunate that they won't be counted as Linux. :/

I've always had this notion that I had to install the game and run it, even for just a few minutes, to cement the purchase as Linux. Just to be sure. It's likely that the phrasing "the platform with the most game time" made that seed sprout in my mind. Glad it did :)

Not surprised, the whole system is rigged to throw numbers at windows stat data, not at all surprised linux slips past due to system-statistical errors.

Someone mentioned in that reddit thread that the "timer" should count down upon first launching the game. Sounds pretty good to me at first glance, not sure of any unintended side-effects of it though.

Valve have to pay publishers/developers their share at some point. With third-party porting, a different platform means a different company to pay those shares to, so they can’t really keep sales in limbo until you run the games. I think that’s where the two-week period comes from.

"early stage" he says, yet Proton already allows me to play so many great games effortlessly. I can't wait to see where it keeps going.

Any idea when they're going to update the "white list"?

protondb has a pretty long list of my games with a "Gold+" or "Platinum" rating, yet the "white list" for Proton hasn't been updated in quite a while...

AS other users, I bought Windows games on Steam since Proton came out and I am disappointed to learn that that never counted as Linux play! I'll stop buying this type of games from steam and go to GOG instead ... although I will still buy and play Linux games from steam ...

LL

In the Reddit post, the original author comments that he played the game for 1 hour. That might be part of it?

Just in January 27 I bought some Windows games for my Gaming Digest account... Two weeks have passed ¬¬

Not surprised, the whole system is rigged to throw numbers at windows stat data, not at all surprised linux slips past due to system-statistical errors.

It just defaults to Windows, unless very specific criteria is met. Bought on the Android app, bought a key on a store, got it in a bundle, did not manage to play within the first two weeks, all Windows sales.

In the end it doesn't matter, because Mac users are counted the same way. When there are enough of us, all these statistical errors and inaccuracies will no longer play any significant role.

I'll stop buying this type of games from steam and go to GOG instead

How does GOG count sales? And how GOG reports platform of users to developers?

Any idea when they're going to update the "white list"?

protondb has a pretty long list of my games with a "Gold+" or "Platinum" rating, yet the "white list" for Proton hasn't been updated in quite a while...

Pretty sure the answer to that is the same listed in the article:

"At this early stage, the team's focus is still on compatibility and performance, so it might take a little bit."

I'm guessing they stopped whitelisting because there's still so much development going on that potentially white-listed games might suffer regression. Plus they've probably got better things to do for the time being, such as working on compatibility and performance.

Most of my Windows games work flawlessly (not Arkham Knight, still crash prone) at least in solo mode. I do not play multi.

Too bad for the stats but frankly it does not bother me that much since games work great.

Anyway a whitelist update would be great.

AS other users, I bought Windows games on Steam since Proton came out and I am disappointed to learn that that never counted as Linux play! I'll stop buying this type of games from steam and go to GOG instead ... although I will still buy and play Linux games from steam ...

LL

That's not what the article said. It might be buggy in some instances, but saying that they never counted has never been said.

"early stage" he says, yet Proton already allows me to play so many great games effortlessly. I can't wait to see where it keeps going.

Any idea when they're going to update the "white list"?

protondb has a pretty long list of my games with a "Gold+" or "Platinum" rating, yet the "white list" for Proton hasn't been updated in quite a while...

and

Anyway a whitelist update would be great.

Why? What do you both need from the whitelist keeping in mind you can manually set Proton on any game now? The whitelist was originally from before they let us do that.

"early stage" he says, yet Proton already allows me to play so many great games effortlessly. I can't wait to see where it keeps going.

Any idea when they're going to update the "white list"?

protondb has a pretty long list of my games with a "Gold+" or "Platinum" rating, yet the "white list" for Proton hasn't been updated in quite a while...

and

Anyway a whitelist update would be great.

Why? What do you both need from the whitelist keeping in mind you can manually set Proton on any game now? The whitelist was originally from before they let us do that.

Are they not morally engaged as they white list a game? I would expect a white listed game to work, and if it doesn't, that they would kind of make it a priority to get it to work again.
On the other hand, for other games you are on your own in theory. That's what I have been thinking about it.

I still prefere that they focus on performance and compatibility in general though


Last edited by toor on 11 February 2020 at 8:51 am UTC

What people need to take into account

What does that actually mean, counting as Linux sale (if it works, that is). You'll be part of a pie chart that shows that you're a Linux customer, ok. I know some play games ported to Linux on Proton for different reasons, I'm not talking about those. But for games not ported, the developers and publishers will see: "Hey, we're selling to Linux players without even porting the game to Linux! So we're not even losing all those 1% of customers by not porting, some are buying nevertheless!"

Guess how this continues:
[ ] "Let's port to Linux to not lose the chance of way less than 1 percent of people buying our game."
[ ] "We don't need to port to Linux, they are buying our game nevertheless. And we don't need to support the people buying for Proton, we never promised them anything."

Are they not morally engaged as they white list a game? I would expect a white listed game to work, and if it doesn't, that they would kind of make it a priority to get it to work again.
On the other hand, for other games you are on your own in theory. That's what I have been thinking about it.

I still prefere that they focus on performance and compatibility in general though

Valve never made any claims about what they support. Edit: In fact, their original announcement made it clear nothing would be marked as supported during the Beta (and it never left Beta).

Part of the reason I tried to get an interview but it didn't go anywhere sadly. They have their two-hour refund window, and that's how they can get around the initial "oh it doesn't start" - but if it breaks after you've played a while - we have to wait on updates to Proton.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 11 February 2020 at 9:29 am UTC

...And there are people that only buy games that works on linux by ethics (interoperability, freedoom of choice, foss support, etc.) and with the aim to switch on only-linux but play them mostly on windows because virtual machine and dual-boots still suck. For example, I know some people with different OS on laptop and desktop for who a game working on linux or mac is essential for few hours when moving even if they mostly play on their desktop windows.

The only real measure would be to tick a box when buying mentioning why we are buying those games, and we may have an access to a "by default" of those ticked boxes in our profile.
Those boxes should be:
drm-free; linux, mac, windows-only (you can tick all the 3 boxes ;) ); independent studio versus big editor;

...and even (if not my main cup of tea) nationality of the studio (for offshoring and so on)

It will also demonstrate may-be that the current situation if not the one desired by consumers ;)