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.
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 unfortunately.
Regarding MacOS X support: It's less about the market share but rather percentages at the studio.
Sad reality is MacOS X is far more used at work by game developers. Also in various departments (art, production, HR, media & community). Linux can be too but pretty much exclusively used in the tech departments and overall far less.
In all studios I've worked so far the Linux share was/is ~1%, Macs usually >15%. That means internal testing on Macs happens already indirectly and is often enough due to the far fewer hardware and OS versions.
Good news are things are changing. Not only in tech teams but I see more on more artists using Blender professionally. Few even are interested in Linux but usually the lack of Adobe products prevent them from trying seriously - I've not heard a single one say GIMP would be a viable alternative to Photoshop. Like Blender it actually needs to be better in at least some areas for artist to invest in re-learning some things. Being free is certainly one but usually not enough since studio pays for it and for non-indies the cost in rather negligible.
Further, if a game also targets iOS, pretty much the whole developer setup needs to work on MacOS X. For game servers running on Linux that's usually not even the case and will be even less with WSL 2.0 coming in the next Windows 10 release. And even if it doesn't help with having the client run on Linux.
I know it's not great to hear and I wish things were different but in my experience often Linux support just comes from a few passionate individuals in a studio pushing for it. If those leave a company often support ends - usually happens for future titles but in some cases also not.
P.S. I'm also super sad to see Linux support ending for Total Mayhem Games. I really like them and would have loved to finish the trilogy. :-/
Now, 6-12 months from now, if I don't forget about the game since I removed it from wish list, if I look at ProtonDB and see a long track record of Gold or better status, I might still buy it. I mean, Steam does have a refund policy. Being a short puzzle game, it won't matter too bad if it breaks 2-3 years down the road. I won't want to play it more than once anyway.
Bottom Line:
If they didn't know how to support a platform and the costs associated with doing so, they shouldn't have taken money for it.
The only right thing to do here is for them to refund the money to Linux users. The next right thing to do here is for Valve to kick them off the platform. I've reported the game, like I do all the clowns that pull this. This is yet another reason why the video game industry needs much more oversight and regulation in our own countries and globally.
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