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While the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077 will not support the Linux desktop, it is at least confirmed to be launching on Stadia same-day as other platforms on November 19.

This gives Linux gamers another way to play, with Stadia getting more huge upcoming games, as on Linux all you need is a Chromium browser and a mouse or gamepad hooked up. If your country is in the supported list for Stadia, that is. Google has still yet to announce wider support for the game streaming service.

Stadia getting probably one of, if not the biggest release this year day and date with other platforms with Cyberpunk 2077 is pretty huge news and perhaps a show of how serious Google are about bringing more people and more games over to it.

From the press release:

“Huge in scale and scope, Cyberpunk 2077 is our most ambitious game to date. It’s humbling to see just how many people are looking forward to playing it, and we want to make it possible for as many gamers as possible come November 19th, when the game launches. The Stadia version will allow players to jump into Night City just seconds after the game unlocks for play worldwide without any downloads needed,” said Michał Nowakowski, SVP of Business Development, CD PROJEKT.

"CD PROJEKT RED are known for developing some of the biggest and best games ever created, and Cyberpunk 2077 is sure to deliver as the most anticipated game of the last few years. We're thrilled to announce that Cyberpunk 2077 will be available on Stadia November 19th. Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia will allow gamers to play on their favorite screens and never have to wait for a download or install to get into, and explore, the depths of Night City," said Shanna Preve, Managing Director, Stadia Partnerships.

Plenty more footage was shown off recently too on the official YouTube, like this one showing off plenty of the vehicles you will be able to get your hands on:

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They also confirmed that people who buy the game on Stadia will get a set of Cyberpunk 2077-themed digital goodies including: the game’s original score, art booklet, the original Cyberpunk 2020 sourcebook and Cyberpunk 2077: Your Voice comic book, as well as a set of wallpapers for desktop and mobile.

See Cyberpunk 2077 on Stadia.

It's worth noting also, that CD PROJEKT RED have been embroiled in plenty of controversy around Cyberpunk 2077. Video game journalist Jason Schreier has been covering it in detail, with a developer who was apparently confirmed to be working on it posting about the working conditions on Reddit too. Crunch is seriously terrible and it's such a massive shame these big games keep forcing such terrible conditions on developers. 


Don't miss that we're expecting more big Stadia news next week, which we will be following along.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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110 comments
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jens Oct 16, 2020
  • Supporter
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: jensIt is quite a difference to offer support for 10.000 sold copies vs 2.000.000 or more copies. I don't think you can compare both cases.

The support argument is used as an excuse, but the real problem is different - see above.

I really don't believe that.
Shmerl Oct 16, 2020
Quoting: jensI really don't believe that.

It's up to you, but for me it's obviously a political problem. Technicalities were solved already or can be solved by anyone who doesn't care about the petty politics part.
jens Oct 16, 2020
  • Supporter
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: jensI really don't believe that.

It's up to you, but for me it's obviously a political problem. Technicalities were solved already or can be solved by anyone who doesn't care about the petty politics part.

Having the technical part solved does not imply that there are no support costs. These are very different things.
Shmerl Oct 16, 2020
Quoting: jensHaving the technical part solved does not imply that there are no support costs. These are very different things.

It implies that support costs are affordable and not an argument against expanding into Linux gaming market. CDPR CEO said so himself, so I'll refer you to him. So I'm not even going to argue about support cost point - it obscures the real issue.


Last edited by Shmerl on 16 October 2020 at 6:51 pm UTC
jens Oct 16, 2020
  • Supporter
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: jensHaving the technical part solved does not imply that there are no support costs. These are very different things.

It implies that support costs are affordable and not an argument against expanding into Linux gaming market. CDPR CEO said so himself, so I'll refer you to him. So I'm not even going to argue about support cost point - it obscures the real issue.

Politics, personal preferences and beliefs are surely part of it, but ignoring support costs is a very much black and white view. I'll stop here, I don't think whatever I say will reach you.
robvv Oct 16, 2020
Quoting: GuestI liked the news, Thank you Liam. But stadia is not for me. Streaming is the ultimate DRM.

Agreed. Whilst I appreciate that this excellent website covers all manner of Linux-related gaming, Stadia really isn't Linux gaming as I understand it.

With Steam, GOG, and the others the user is able to download the game locally and play it at their leisure on their own system. Even though Steam has its basic DRM, a simple insertion of Goldberg Emulator will (in most cases, except for the likes of Feral!) circumvent this and it's perfectly legal.

If the games are downloaded to the user's PC and Valve or GOG cease to exist, the games are still playable. If Stadia ceases to exist (see Google's track record) the files are not held locally and the user is screwed. This is not something that we should be encouraging at all.

Here's hoping that 'gamingonstadia.com' doesn't become a thing ;-)
jens Oct 16, 2020
  • Supporter
Quoting: robvv
Quoting: GuestI liked the news, Thank you Liam. But stadia is not for me. Streaming is the ultimate DRM.

Agreed. Whilst I appreciate that this excellent website covers all manner of Linux-related gaming, Stadia really isn't Linux gaming as I understand it.

Well, opinions about Stadia may differ of course, but you cannot deny the fact that with Stadia you can fully officially and supported do gaming on Linux :)


Last edited by jens on 16 October 2020 at 8:08 pm UTC
14 Oct 16, 2020
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  • Supporter Plus
I'm happy that it's coming to Stadia for the folks that want to purchase it there and play it that way. Had I not had a PS4, I would be sweating, on the fence about buying the Stadia version (as a first) or waiting for Steam release to see if Proton works well enough not to return it. Since I do have a PS4, I decided to avoid the drama and pre-order a disc copy from a local store. If the game becomes playable and smooth on Linux in the future, I can certainly buy that version as well. One thing about having a PS4 disc version is I can actually sell it.
x_wing Oct 16, 2020
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: GuestVast difference comparing that to general GNU/Linux desktop users running something locally. Stadia is almost the same as a console by comparison.

The difference is vastly overestimated. It's not vast, it's a minor difference. It's not a zero cost effort sure, but it's peanuts expenses for someone like CDPR.

I think that you underestimate Google's role here. IMO, they have definitely pay for the Stadia port, just like they probably did with all the other games in their platform.

CDPR will simply not port their games to a desktop Linux distro because the ROI doesn't fit with their company expectations. Any other excuse regarding why they "can't" is just a lame excuse.
Shmerl Oct 16, 2020
Quoting: x_wingCDPR will simply not port their games to a desktop Linux distro because the ROI doesn't fit with their company expectations. Any other excuse regarding why they "can't" is just a lame excuse.

My point is, after Google already paid for it and CDPR did all the heavy lifting - the rest is simply peanuts. So ROI arguments aren't relevant there anymore.


Last edited by Shmerl on 16 October 2020 at 9:56 pm UTC
Kuduzkehpan Oct 17, 2020
All the thing is Google become greater evil and Monopoly. Behalf of making its future project Fuscia OS.
Anti linux and anti Windows
drjoms Oct 17, 2020
too late but my 5 cents...
We should stop acknowledge Stadia's existence.
It's as much Linux gaming as some broadcasting of Playstation game on Android phone.
Comandante Ñoñardo Oct 17, 2020
Quoting: GuestWould you prefer to stop acknowledging the Wine project as well then? After all, that's for running Windows software, and Windows gaming.

....locally installed on your Linux machine.
preludelinux Oct 17, 2020
we know that stadia is a specific Linux configuration supported like a console .... and another platform to support besides mainstream Linux kinda like how there are so many Linux phones competing with android right?

If i buy this game it will be on ps4/ps5 its not they dont support Linux its that they only support googles Linux DRM streaming wrapper. so yes they have a fully functional Linux build that google could release a framework environment possible even opensource it for us to have one environment to run the all games released on stadia , which would increase Linux games sales and take away from support cost because the game dev could say we support googles open game runtime environment kinda like what steam has done already ... im sure this is super easy compared to wine and proton etc but we have yet to hear about these kinda things google just wants to use linux and cash in and lock us in to there monopoly this is something MS does. as time goes on we see that googles new motto is 'Do all Evil"...

google needs to be split up into separate companies just like MicroSoft needs to be and needed to be years ago. stadia is just a very bad idea and the ultimate DRM of letting someone completely control access to your games even consoles are not this restrictive which you can play off disk and download still play offline on some titles to some extent. even playstation Now lets you download titles for use on your system and bypass the streaming part for lots of titles.
slaapliedje Oct 17, 2020
Quoting: Comandante Ñoñardo
Quoting: LinasDo we have any details on how they make these Windows-only DirectX 12 games work on Stadia? I mean, is it actually running on Linux? [Conspiracy theory intensifies]

I think all Stadia games are windows game running on Debian via compatibility layer...
Is the more cheapest process...
My guess has always been that it's just a massive virtualization platform that spins up a new VM instance whenever someone launches a game. That'd make far more sense than them porting Dx12 games over as quick as they have been.

Though it would explain why both UE4 and Unity have 'export to Linux' functions, if they actually did run natively on Debian.

Stadia is something I'd never use as I hate Chrome/Chromium and Google in general.
slaapliedje Oct 17, 2020
Quoting: preludelinuxwe know that stadia is a specific Linux configuration supported like a console .... and another platform to support besides mainstream Linux kinda like how there are so many Linux phones competing with android right?

If i buy this game it will be on ps4/ps5 its not they dont support Linux its that they only support googles Linux DRM streaming wrapper. so yes they have a fully functional Linux build that google could release a framework environment possible even opensource it for us to have one environment to run the all games released on stadia , which would increase Linux games sales and take away from support cost because the game dev could say we support googles open game runtime environment kinda like what steam has done already ... im sure this is super easy compared to wine and proton etc but we have yet to hear about these kinda things google just wants to use linux and cash in and lock us in to there monopoly this is something MS does. as time goes on we see that googles new motto is 'Do all Evil"...

google needs to be split up into separate companies just like MicroSoft needs to be and needed to be years ago. stadia is just a very bad idea and the ultimate DRM of letting someone completely control access to your games even consoles are not this restrictive which you can play off disk and download still play offline on some titles to some extent. even playstation Now lets you download titles for use on your system and bypass the streaming part for lots of titles.
On that note, would have been interesting if MS had been split up all those years ago. We probably would have actually seen Windows die off a lot, as Office would have been available on every platform, and let's face it, Office sells Windows. If MS hadn't done so many dirty tricks way back when, we'd have a lot more alternatives. After seeing what they did to DRI, back in the Win3.x days.. Along with BeOS, etc.

If Google were split up though, what would that look like? Or even Apple for their part? Google basically makes all their money as an advertisement platform. Pretty sure all that would happen if they were split up would be the other projects like Stadia would die.
Shmerl Oct 18, 2020
Quoting: GuestROI must include support costs. If it was just release into the wild and forget about it, that would be a different story. Updates, patches, all that testing, customer support (someone to answer the emails) - and not to mention public image - are very relevant.

Yes, but these costs are manageable for them and they also directly benefit Stadia port itself. Any improvement in their Linux codebase improves their Stadia release too. So from ROI perspective it's not an issue.
Shmerl Oct 18, 2020
Quoting: slaapliedjeMy guess has always been that it's just a massive virtualization platform that spins up a new VM instance whenever someone launches a game. That'd make far more sense than them porting Dx12 games over as quick as they have been.

Except it's not the case. Stadia is using Debian Linux + Vulkan. See here:

https://stadia.dev/intl/en_us/about/

Scroll down there and click "See Software Stack".


Last edited by Shmerl on 18 October 2020 at 3:28 am UTC
rustybroomhandle Oct 18, 2020
Wish people would stop thinking that Stadia's tech is some huge mystery we have to speculate about. There is info on the web site and there have been very detailed talks by developers. Maybe a recap article that consolidates all of this stuff might help people get off this weird trip.
Comandante Ñoñardo Oct 18, 2020
Quoting: rustybroomhandleWish people would stop thinking that Stadia's tech is some huge mystery we have to speculate about. There is info on the web site and there have been very detailed talks by developers. Maybe a recap article that consolidates all of this stuff might help people get off this weird trip.

Nobody doubt that Stadia is Debian + Vulkan...

The doubts are if the big games are actually ported to Debian + Vulkan when they could be just Windows games running on Debian + Vulkan via Proton alike compatibility layer, being that the cheapest way according to the mentality of those big publishers.

Maybe Google is earning money using DXVK and the author doesn't even know it.
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