Recently we put up an article highlighting a possible issue with how Valve were counting Steam Play Proton sales, here's a full correction and more information.
In the previous article, it referenced a Reddit post and Valve's quick statement at the time that Steam Play Proton might not have listed Linux as the platform for a game sale. We also added an update to that article today, after speaking to a developer whose Windows-only title was purchased by myself (and others) as they had told us they saw no Linux sales which seemingly confirmed there was an issue.
As it turns out, the system is working correctly but there was a filtering issue.
Valve reached out today to GOL to issue this statement:
Hi Liam,
We've looked at the issue and don't believe there's a platform tracking problem.
On the reporting side, there are two different ways that partner track how their game is doing on Steam. There's a per-game summary page; that one gets updated fairly quickly. There's also a detailed monthly financial reports breaking down all the payments made to a publisher, with some amount of delay.
While Linux sales were tracked properly throughout, there was filtering in place that did not separate "Linux Units and Revenue" from "Total Units and Revenue" on the per-game summary page. This would only occur when an application was not launchable via Linux, and was purely a display issue. As can be noted by checking any of the previous monthly financial reports, these transactions were separated out into Windows/Mac/Linux for all applications (regardless of their supported platforms) at the time of payment. We have made a change to the summary page to also show Linux units when they exist for an application; I expect it should help reduce confusion around this situation.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention,
- Pierre-Loup
It's really great to see Valve keep on top of this, communicate with us on it and act so quickly to ensure there's no more confusion for developers going forward. Hopefully then, it means this issue can be put to rest and everyone gaming on Linux can continue enjoying whatever they like.
Confused on what Steam Play and Proton are? Be sure to check out our simple guide.
Update 26/02/20: I had a reply today from Valve to further clarify other sales. The Steam Desktop client takes the initial platform, then two weeks playtime to count. All others (Android, Browser) default to Windows and then two weeks playtime. So of you buy games outside of the Linux Steam client, ensure you're loading them up for a bit otherwise it's a Windows platform sale.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Quoting: scaineQuoting: rustybroomhandleQuoting: dpanterAll I want is that buying a game from a Linux platform counts as a Linux purchase.
Is that really so bloody difficult? :><:
On which platform are you not getting this, though?
Well, Android for one - I think that was mentioned earlier. I can't buy games at work either, because that's either Android or Windows, so I have to wishlist, then hope I remember when I get home.
We really should be able to demonstrate support for our platform in easier/better ways that this...!
There is always the "send a mail to yourself" option otherwise :)
Quoting: scaineQuoting: areamanplaysgameQuoting: BielFPsBut if I check, Steam will hide games which are not flagged as Linux compatible right? If not then I'll change in my profile ASAP
I have it checked and it shows me a lot of games that do not officially support Linux. I think the theory at this point is, with Proton, any game is a Linux game if you really believe.
It definitely affects queues and many elements of the primary store page, but there are lots of exceptions. The setting is ignored for big sales, for example, and mid-week madness. It's also ignored on all the steam labs stuff, like Deep Dive, which is pretty infuriating, as it renders those tools pretty useless for me.
Funnily enough, you mentioned Deep Dive as an example, which is the only one that honors the Linux store filter. Reason for that was that original implementation wasn't done by Valve and developer implemented Linux support just because people requested it.
However Diving Bell might pick non Linux game to the first set of selections, which is not actually bad thing as you can check if there are similar Linux games available.
Quoting: AnzaQuoting: scaineQuoting: areamanplaysgameQuoting: BielFPsBut if I check, Steam will hide games which are not flagged as Linux compatible right? If not then I'll change in my profile ASAP
I have it checked and it shows me a lot of games that do not officially support Linux. I think the theory at this point is, with Proton, any game is a Linux game if you really believe.
It definitely affects queues and many elements of the primary store page, but there are lots of exceptions. The setting is ignored for big sales, for example, and mid-week madness. It's also ignored on all the steam labs stuff, like Deep Dive, which is pretty infuriating, as it renders those tools pretty useless for me.
Funnily enough, you mentioned Deep Dive as an example, which is the only one that honors the Linux store filter. Reason for that was that original implementation wasn't done by Valve and developer implemented Linux support just because people requested it.
However Diving Bell might pick non Linux game to the first set of selections, which is not actually bad thing as you can check if there are similar Linux games available.
Funnily enough, it was Diving Bell that I was thinking of, because I follow Lars Doucet on Twitter (big fan of his games). And yep, it doesn't support platform filtering, while I notice that Deep Dive now seems to!
Quoting: F.UltraQuoting: scaineQuoting: rustybroomhandleQuoting: dpanterAll I want is that buying a game from a Linux platform counts as a Linux purchase.
Is that really so bloody difficult? :><:
On which platform are you not getting this, though?
Well, Android for one - I think that was mentioned earlier. I can't buy games at work either, because that's either Android or Windows, so I have to wishlist, then hope I remember when I get home.
We really should be able to demonstrate support for our platform in easier/better ways that this...!
There is always the "send a mail to yourself" option otherwise :)
Pfff, I'm a busy guy... who's got time for that. I have games to play, places to be. Well, games to play at least. :D
Quoting: scaineQuoting: AnzaQuoting: scaineQuoting: areamanplaysgameQuoting: BielFPsBut if I check, Steam will hide games which are not flagged as Linux compatible right? If not then I'll change in my profile ASAP
I have it checked and it shows me a lot of games that do not officially support Linux. I think the theory at this point is, with Proton, any game is a Linux game if you really believe.
It definitely affects queues and many elements of the primary store page, but there are lots of exceptions. The setting is ignored for big sales, for example, and mid-week madness. It's also ignored on all the steam labs stuff, like Deep Dive, which is pretty infuriating, as it renders those tools pretty useless for me.
Funnily enough, you mentioned Deep Dive as an example, which is the only one that honors the Linux store filter. Reason for that was that original implementation wasn't done by Valve and developer implemented Linux support just because people requested it.
However Diving Bell might pick non Linux game to the first set of selections, which is not actually bad thing as you can check if there are similar Linux games available.
Funnily enough, it was Diving Bell that I was thinking of, because I follow Lars Doucet on Twitter (big fan of his games). And yep, it doesn't support platform filtering, while I notice that Deep Dive now seems to!
Apparently, it only respect platform filters because Lars Doucet specifically made it happen. It's a shame that the burden to make it work is on labs contributors, and not Valve. Seems like a recipe to make sure most of them never will.
EDIT: Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/gamingonlinux/status/1174747823545421825
Last edited by flesk on 21 February 2020 at 7:11 am UTC
Quoting: scaineQuoting: F.UltraThere is always the "send a mail to yourself" option otherwise :)
Pfff, I'm a busy guy... who's got time for that. I have games to play, places to be. Well, games to play at least. :D
To the best of my knowledge (hope?), setting the browser's user agent should be enough.
Quoting: dpanterAll I want is that buying a game from a Linux platform counts as a Linux purchase.
Is that really so bloody difficult? :><:
Problem is not that it's not doable, but that it's not what they want, and reasonaly so, in my opinion. If you're buying on Linux and play on Windows, "Windows" is the data they want to have.
Quoting: Liam DaweAs a note, the developer I spoke to was for Deep Rock Galactic who've now said they're happy to be quoted on it. After this went live, I mentioned it to them and they have confirmed they can see the Linux sales.
Really cool, thanks for the heads-up and ofc to Valve/Plagman for picking this up that fast.
Quoting: Liam DaweAs a note, the developer I spoke to was for Deep Rock Galactic who've now said they're happy to be quoted on it. After this went live, I mentioned it to them and they have confirmed they can see the Linux sales.
Love those guys and such an amazing game - it's rare for a "play with strangers" to be a positive, encouraging experience, but somehow they've managed it. There's even friendly fire and it STILL encourages teamwork and promotes this honest-to-god brotherhood vibe somehow.
It is a game best played to heavy metal, in an empty house, in a dark room. Everyone should experience it.
ROCK AND STONE!
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