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PayPalBack in August 2018, Valve announced their new Steam Play feature with the Proton software in the Linux Steam client to play Windows-only Steam games on Linux. A little note about what platform is counted for sales.
When we spoke to Valve originally back then (shown in an update to our original article), we asked about how the sales would show up for developers and this was the response:
Hey Liam, the normal algorithm is in effect, so if at the end of the two weeks you have more playtime on Linux, it'll be a Linux sale. Proton counts as Linux.
It seems that there might be some issues where it's not correctly counted, so it shows up as a normal Windows sale as a user noted on Reddit. Since reaching out to Valve, developer Pierre-Loup Griffais has released this quick and simple statement on Twitter for all to read:
That doesn't seem like intended behavior, we'll look into it. At this early stage, the team's focus is still on compatibility and performance, so it might take a little bit.
As with anything new and in constant development there's going to be teething issues. Hopefully this hasn't been too widespread though if true.
Update 19/02/20: I've now had this verified by a developer whose game I purchased on Linux, then played entirely on Linux and I know a few others who did the same and the developer told me all show up as Windows sales.
Update #2: See a clear statement from Valve in this latest article.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: Liam DaweA developer has now confirmed to me they see all show up as Windows, for a game even I personally purchased 100% on Linux for Proton. Waiting to see if they will allow being quoted.
Doesn't this have the "funny" result that it would have been counted as Linux if you'd bought it under Linux and not played it the first weeks...?
Quoting: EikeRight now, it might not even work like that at all. All we know, is that it's clearly not working as it's supposed to be.Quoting: Liam DaweA developer has now confirmed to me they see all show up as Windows, for a game even I personally purchased 100% on Linux for Proton. Waiting to see if they will allow being quoted.
Doesn't this have the "funny" result that it would have been counted as Linux if you'd bought it under Linux and not played it the first weeks...?
Quoting: Liam DaweRight now, it might not even work like that at all. All we know, is that it's clearly not working as it's supposed to be.
It's just a guess, but if just Proton attribution is not working, but the rest does as it used to (you reported games with Linux sales that didn't have a Linux version way before Proton existed, just due to the system used for buying), that should be the - odd - outcome. Let's see. At any rate it's unfortunate, and it's sad they didn't find out themselves way earlier.
Quoting: Liam DaweA developer has now confirmed to me they see all show up as Windows, for a game even I personally purchased 100% on Linux for Proton. Waiting to see if they will allow being quoted.Son of a bitch. That's worse than it seemed.
Quoting: Purple Library GuyQuoting: Liam DaweA developer has now confirmed to me they see all show up as Windows, for a game even I personally purchased 100% on Linux for Proton. Waiting to see if they will allow being quoted.Son of a bitch. That's worse than it seemed.
Yeah, that's more or less how I would call it too :(. I haven't bought that much for Proton, but I guess I'll put future purchases on hold until this is resolved.
(Fortunately the only Proton title on my radar now is RDR2 which doesn't run yet)
In January, I bought:
Noita (£11.19)
In 2019, I've bought:
The Witcher 3 (£10.49)
The Room series (£4.83)
Risk of Rain 2 (£8.19)
A Plague Tale: Innocent (£22.49)
Wolfenstein Two Pack (£19.99)
Fallout 4 (£9.99)
No Man's Sky (£19.99)
Deep Rock Galactic (£14.24)
Into The Breach (£6.99)
So, Windows only titles over 13 months = £112 on 13 titles
Meanwhile, my Linux purchases for the same period = £305 on 40 titles.
That's pretty significant - there's a LOT of Windows games in there that I wouldn't have bought if I'd know it wasn't giving developers visibility of Linux sales. This is pretty infuriating stuff, honestly. I feel ripped off.
As an aside, I think I probably spend waaaay too much money on games...
Mohandevir Feb 19, 2020
With that I will lock the comments here to prevent any confusion.
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