After repeatedly trying to get an answer, we now finally have it confirmed that Aspyr Media will be doing no further updates to Borderlands 2. While Aspyr Media are still continuing to update their ports of Civilization VI for Linux / macOS, the situation with the Borderlands series is just sad.
You might be confused, since Borderlands 2 is from 2012. So why are we mentioning this now? Well, it came to Linux later in 2014 and last year it gained one final DLC with Borderlands 2: Commander Lilith & the Fight for Sanctuary plus the Borderlands 2 Ultra HD Texture Pack. Both of which are missing for Linux and along with those and updates to support them, this broke cross-platform play between Linux, macOS and Windows.
Aspyr Media said last year they were working to get it all up to date on Linux. Time went on, we reached out to them a few times and each time it went unanswered. Until today that is, where their partners got in touch with us with a statement: "At this time, we can confirm that there are no further updates planned for Borderlands 2 on Linux and Mac. We will continue to provide customer service support to players via support.aspyr.com.".
Note: while it wasn't mentioned, this all likely affects Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel too.
Obviously all games stop being updated at some point, not everything is a live-service style game and developers do move on. Still, missing entire updates and DLC is ridiculous. We have no idea if this is due to Gearbox Software, 2K or Aspyr Media directly and we likely never will as these sorts of deals are never made public.
Quoting: marcelomendesWell, I wasn't sure about buying BL3, but after this I will just remove it from my wishlist. Thanks for the heads up Liam.
I really have no idea how that makes sense to you.
Borderlands 3 is a windows-only game. Gearbox doesn't give a shit about linux. They are not paying Aspyr to put the DLC into Linux, so Aspyr is not porting it.
If you were planning on buying BL3, what has changed? There were no plans to release it in Linux anyway. I really don't understand your logic.
Please keep in mind that I'm not defending BL3/Gearbox. BL3 is a pretty terrible game (although the gunplay is pretty fun) and Gearbox is a pretty terrible company.
Quoting: pete910
Unfortunately I called it some time ago, I knew this was going to be the the case.
It's with a sad heart that the way It's going in general with Linux gaming and the humongous £££ increase in graphics cards I am seriously thinking PS5. I'll keep my Linux PC purely for work related tasks .
Don't forget that console games are -massively- more expensive than PC games, and in contrast to Steam, aren't constantly on massive sales, either. The math usually works in favor of PC gaming, in the long run. Also, you don't need super-high performance GPUs for 99.9% of all games out there. That's what the industry wants to make you think to make you blow more dough on new hardware than really needed.
Quoting: BeamboomQuoting: Comandante Ñoñardo"If your game has fully functional SteamOS/Linux version, instead of charge you the 30% of the game price, I'm gonna charge you only the 5% of the game price"
But nooo! For some mysterious reason GabeN refuse to do this....
Dropping 25% of your income to support a 1% platform. Yeah that reason is real mysterious. They must be idiots. Or paid by Microsoft. Or something...
Ok, the 5% cut is a fantasy.
But Valve has a serious competition called Epic Game Store, Stadia and Xbox Game Pass for Windows 10 ...
The only way to attract big publishers and have them doing what Valve wants in the way that Valve wants is with a good monetary incentive, aka very small cut.
Imagine the next super AAA being six months timed SteamOS/Linux exclusive because, instead of taking the regular 30% cut, Valve takes the 10% of the game price only with that condition... 2 points less than Epic Store, by the way..
The marketshare is a cheap excuse...
Several AAA games were ported to Stadia when it was new and has zero marketshare.
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoImagine the next super AAA being six months timed SteamOS/Linux exclusive because, instead of taking the regular 30% cut, Valve takes the 10% of the game price only with that condition... 2 points less than Epic Store, by the way..
Also very unrealistic.
What would be realistic though is Valve developing (at least one) blockbuster(s) themselves (no half life) and release it only for Linux/Steam Machines (potential next generation(?) (for a limited time).
They have enough money for that.
I think their mistake with Steam machines was, that they had no real selling point.
Blockbusters would be a selling point.
But sadly I agree with many people out there, who say that the main reason for Windows hegemony is because users are too lazy to even consider an alternative.
Would be interesting to know how the share of Feral is determined on Steam.
Does Feral get paid, when I play a Game in the native Linux Version?
Last edited by dr_jekyll on 12 September 2020 at 8:05 pm UTC
Quoting: dr_jekyllWould be interesting to know how the share of Feral is determined on Steam.
Does Feral get paid, when I play a Game in the native Linux Version?
AFAIK they get paid if you either buy directly from their store or you buy it from Steam and play it in next two weeks. If you buy it from Steam, but never play it, it counts as a Windows sale.
That's why I have delayed activating keys from Humble Bundle. If I activate too many keys at once, it's too likely that I never get around playing all of them in the two week period.
For the first party ported titles it doesn't matter as much as they can also monitor playtime per platform.
At least Borderlands 2 is a solid and reasonably bug free product that I've gotten many hours of enjoyment from.
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoImagine the next super AAA being six months timed SteamOS/Linux exclusive because, instead of taking the regular 30% cut, Valve takes the 10% of the game price only with that condition... 2 points less than Epic Store, by the way..That’s just a race to the bottom—who runs out of money first? Valve can afford to keep its current cut because they have the features the users want and the audience the publishers want.
Quoting: Whitewolfe80Hate to say i called it but i called it Aspyr have seemingly given up on linux that much i expected but to give up on mac as well there publisher arm must be doing well if it can let the porting side of business go.The Mac version is already at parity with the Windows updates as far as I know. Took them a few months, but they updated that port. So it’s not much to say that they don’t plan to update it again.
Last edited by Salvatos on 13 September 2020 at 1:20 am UTC
Maybe it is time for Steam to enforce a front and centre 'differences between different OSes' disclaimer directly under the title of the game.
Quoting: KimyrielleQuoting: pete910
Unfortunately I called it some time ago, I knew this was going to be the the case.
It's with a sad heart that the way It's going in general with Linux gaming and the humongous £££ increase in graphics cards I am seriously thinking PS5. I'll keep my Linux PC purely for work related tasks .
Don't forget that console games are -massively- more expensive than PC games, and in contrast to Steam, aren't constantly on massive sales, either. The math usually works in favor of PC gaming, in the long run. Also, you don't need super-high performance GPUs for 99.9% of all games out there. That's what the industry wants to make you think to make you blow more dough on new hardware than really needed.
Not really, PC games are getting/Surpassed in some cases the cost of console games, I agree with missing the steam sales but there's also plenty of places to by S/H games for consoles. Swings and roundabouts on either side tbh.
**** me off a bit not seeing BL3, Massive fan of BL2. Purchased loads of copies for friends over the years too. NVM!
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