Update 25/06/20: they also dropped support for We Were Here Too as of June 25. This was announced here in a very casual and uncaring manner too. They also entirely removed the Linux build from Steam.
The release of this update also means we are ending support for Linux and 32 bit versions of We Were Here Too. You might have noticed this already happened for the other We Were Here games.
Checking back on the first game, We Were Here, they also entirely removed the original Linux build there a few days earlier. That wasn't much of a problem as it was a free game but We Were Here Too was a paid game.
Original article below:
Total Mayhem Games have announced that We Were Here, a co-op puzzle game series, will no longer support Linux. Currently the series is made up of We Were Here (which is free), We Were Here Too and We Were Here Together.
The first two had Linux support, with the third being released in October last year without a Linux version. Now they're dropping support for Linux completely (and VR too). Perhaps not entirely unexpected then if they weren't continuing it with newer games. Why though? As they said in an announcement yesterday:
Regretfully, we are announcing that we will no longer support Linux going forward. We know this will come as a disappointment to some of you, but it simply isn't practical to provide support considering how quickly the software is changing and the limited number of people who actually use Linux to play We Were Here games.
They've already removed the SteamOS/Linux icon on the store page for We Were Here (the free one), although currently the Linux build is still there. We Were Here Too doesn't seem to have been touched…yet, and it's not clear if it's only going to be dropped for the first one as this still has the SteamOS/Linux support icon.
A real shame, as We Were Here Too is actually a pretty fun game and one we took a look at before. If this situation sounds familiar, it's because Rocket League also dropped Linux support earlier this year.
This is the constant struggle of a niche platform. We are at least slowly trending upwards going by the Linux user share on Steam. Until we grow a lot though, we aren't likely to see consistent developer support. A lack of developer interest is part of the reason Valve teamed up with CodeWeavers to create Steam Play Proton too, so there's at least something to fallback onto.
If you missed it, we also recently went over some interesting Steam milestones for Linux.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Kimyrielle Apr 29, 2020
Quoting: vipor29i can never understand the thought process of companies supporting the mac seeing it is not that much bigger than linux is,what by 5 or 6% that is not much at all.i would of thought with valve's backing at least we would of been hitting at least 10% by now.that ship has probably sailed unfortunally.
As for the market share, the problem is that most people have zero reason to replace their pre-installed and working Windows with another OS. We're the 1% that would do such things.
As for why supporting Mac, and not Linux, that's easy to explain, too. There is really just one Mac architecture they have to test and support. Linux is much more fragmented, which makes QA and support much harder. I am pretty sure if there would be no distro other than say, Ubuntu, the situation would be at least a bit different. But make no mistake, Mac isn't THAT much better supported than Linux. It might seem that way because a few AAA publishers have released games for Mac when they wouldn't touch Linux with a ten foot pole. But the difference in support is pretty marginal, IMHO. In the end, most game devs seem to have surprisingly narrow skill sets. They know how to use their Windows tools to make Windows games with, and that's it. We probably tend to forget that, because as a Linux user, you're almost guaranteed to have experience with other OSes and their tools, too.
Quoting: GuestProton is typically a viable option for most of these companies. They can still continue to support us with most likely minimal effort. If they are not willing do to that, screw them. I get that they can't all support us natively, but with the tools available to them now not support us at all is bullshit in most cases if you ask me."Supporting" Proton still requires not only a conscious effort to test their games with Proton but to also fix their game, somehow, if they break it with Proton in an upcoming version. It's complicated and since they don't work with Proton directly, they might end up breaking it anyway since we're a niche and wait on Valve/CodeWeavers which wouldn't be a priority (we assume) unless it's a whitelisted game. At least with a Linux build, they control it and they can fix it. There's upsides and downsides to all methods - is more my point.
Quoting: GuestI'm simply mentioning why supporting Proton isn't something developers are suddenly going to do, especially in cases like this. Nothing more, didn't mean to infer you thought it was zero work at all, just giving some extra perspective for you and anyone else interested that's reading the comments.Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: GuestProton is typically a viable option for most of these companies. They can still continue to support us with most likely minimal effort. If they are not willing do to that, screw them. I get that they can't all support us natively, but with the tools available to them now not support us at all is bullshit in most cases if you ask me."Supporting" Proton still requires not only a conscious effort to test their games with Proton but to also fix their game, somehow, if they break it with Proton in an upcoming version. It's complicated and since they don't work with Proton directly, they might end up breaking it anyway since we're a niche and wait on Valve/CodeWeavers which wouldn't be a priority (we assume) unless it's a whitelisted game. At least with a Linux build, they control it and they can fix it. There's upsides and downsides to all methods - is more my point.
Never said supporting Proton required zero work. Not sure where you got that notion from buddy. Right now we won't have the game supported on Linux. I'd take almost anything over that.
iwantlinuxgames Apr 29, 2020
Quoting: KimyrielleQuoting: vipor29i can never understand the thought process of companies supporting the mac seeing it is not that much bigger than linux is,what by 5 or 6% that is not much at all.i would of thought with valve's backing at least we would of been hitting at least 10% by now.that ship has probably sailed unfortunally.
As for the market share, the problem is that most people have zero reason to replace their pre-installed and working Windows with another OS. We're the 1% that would do such things.
As for why supporting Mac, and not Linux, that's easy to explain, too. There is really just one Mac architecture they have to test and support. Linux is much more fragmented, which makes QA and support much harder. I am pretty sure if there would be no distro other than say, Ubuntu, the situation would be at least a bit different. But make no mistake, Mac isn't THAT much better supported than Linux. It might seem that way because a few AAA publishers have released games for Mac when they wouldn't touch Linux with a ten foot pole. But the difference in support is pretty marginal, IMHO. In the end, most game devs seem to have surprisingly narrow skill sets. They know how to use their Windows tools to make Windows games with, and that's it. We probably tend to forget that, because as a Linux user, you're almost guaranteed to have experience with other OSes and their tools, too.
yea i didn't even think of that.with all the distros out there it makes it more difficult.
Quoting: GuestThey've already removed the necessary files by the looks of it - didn't even give people a warning who might otherwise have had a chance to download and backup everything (assuming it could be run without Steam), or provide an archived copy somewhere.As of right now, the Linux build is still up there but they removed the launch config so you would have to run the Linux build manually from the installed folder. That is, until they remove the Linux content depots too.
I understand they want to stop support, but yanking it so suddenly isn't a good look. And that's for the free game - if they do this for the paid version, that really wouldn't be a great idea.
On the one hand, it's the dev (or publisher, or whoever) responsibility to give fair warning and allow continued access to something that was paid for. On the other, it's not the first time this has happened and it might be nice for Valve to step in somehow to stop developers (or whoever) being able to do such a thing. Maybe keep a rollback for a month or two, notify users that it's about to disappear and give them a chance to grab it.
I agree Valve should do something about it for paid games, as a question of fairness to consumers using Steam. I did email Valve about this particular issue, twice, when other games (Rocket League, Rust) removed Linux about giving people assurances and their PR team never replied about it.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 29 April 2020 at 6:18 pm UTC
Quoting: GuestThey've already removed the necessary files by the looks of it - didn't even give people a warning who might otherwise have had a chance to download and backup everything (assuming it could be run without Steam), or provide an archived copy somewhere.I can still install the Linux versions of We Were Here and We Were Here Too just fine.
EDIT: First one missing the launch config like Liam says.
By the way, this announcement only shows up in the Steam news feed for the first game. I know their wording makes it pretty clear that the sequel will lose support as well, but is that actually confirmed?
Last edited by tuubi on 29 April 2020 at 6:27 pm UTC
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