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: Liam DaweI suggest you read the article. It's not just for showing games
But 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
Quoting: Liam DaweOutside of that, there's nothing like what you're asking for.
I know, that's why I say I would like to see :)
QuoteWhile 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.
Well, displaying it right to the developers/publishers is what this is all about! It's great that Valve has the right numbers in their internal databases, but that doesn't (didn't) help anyone!
Quoting: BielFPsYou can just untick the SteamOS filter any time when you're searching for games or tick the Windows filter. The filters are there any time you're browsing lists on Steam. That's the whole point of the Steam store having those filters, separate from your profile settings.Quoting: Liam DaweI suggest you read the article. It's not just for showing games
But 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
Quoting: EikeTo be honest, I'm not very happy with Pierre-Loup's answer (if I understood it correctly):Well, it's good this all came up since now it should be a lot clearer.
QuoteWhile 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.
Well, displaying it right to the developers/publishers is what this is all about! It's great that Valve has the right numbers in their internal databases, but that doesn't (didn't) help anyone!
areamanplaysgame Feb 20, 2020
Quoting: 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.
Quoting: 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.
Is that really so bloody difficult? :><:
rustybroomhandle Feb 20, 2020
Quoting: 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?
BrazilianGamer Feb 20, 2020
Quoting: 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...!
Quoting: alexbrrsclntNow It would be valuable to check if the same Windows game dev could try to look again in his sales summary if the change was applied and now sees Liam's and other linux sales in his game.
@Liam, could you please indeed raise that question to the developers you had contact with?
Last edited by jens on 20 February 2020 at 6:43 pm UTC
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