It seems Feral Interactive have a few less ports available to buy supported for Linux and macOS to start off 2021 with as both Mad Max and Shadow of Mordor have been delisted for both platforms.
The change happened just before the end of 2020 on both titles, as seen on SteamDB (#1 - #2). On the macOS side, they lost even more as a few Lego titles also vanished and Batman: Arkham City too from mentioning macOS. Why? They all have a common publisher - Warner. Confirming this to me on Twitter, Feral Interactive stated "Hi, these games have been removed from sale on macOS/Linux due to their licenses expiring.".
So what does this actually mean? The Linux ports still exist, still work as expected and anyone who buys them on Steam would still get them too as they're attached to standard purchases. Going forward though, they're not being advertised or supported.
A shame but actually somewhat common. We see this with racing games, football games, and sometimes music also causes issues and more where licenses are often for a specific time period. In this case it's a bit more unique that it only affected the external ports.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Doesn't matters if the game is old or not, this is sad. We are seeing less ports, more games with EAC and more games with DX12, and now losing the support from a big developer
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Quoting: pbweird that they didn't do a farewell sale at the Feral Store for example.
A sale for something they're about to drop support for? Would you buy a car on sale that is about to be discontinued and does not come with a warranty?
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I wonder if isn't time to Feral to rethink their business line as just a porting company.
I know nothing about how profitable they're right now, but I would suggest they should try to be a gaming developer company too. God knows we could use an Vulkan-focused gaming dev company (Even for Windows people)
I know nothing about how profitable they're right now, but I would suggest they should try to be a gaming developer company too. God knows we could use an Vulkan-focused gaming dev company (Even for Windows people)
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Sad, but ye. When there are licenses expiring...
This means the end for feral getting cuts on linux sales, so it's probably right the original publisher is not advertising it.
Wished they have had some permanent agreement, but when it comes to licensing that's hardly ever done.
This means the end for feral getting cuts on linux sales, so it's probably right the original publisher is not advertising it.
Wished they have had some permanent agreement, but when it comes to licensing that's hardly ever done.
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Quoting: HoriI don't think it's going to affect too much except for the fact that the missing Linux (Actually SteamOS) and Mac icons cause confusion and would lead people to believe they are not available there.No. If there is no Linux/MacOS icon and Feral don't get a cut, to me this games do not exist at all.
I'm buying games only to support the platform and the porter. If that cannot happen officially I might as well go the unofficial route and don't buy them at all.
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Quoting: wytrabbitQuoting: pbweird that they didn't do a farewell sale at the Feral Store for example.
A sale for something they're about to drop support for? Would you buy a car on sale that is about to be discontinued and does not come with a warranty?
A car? No. A Game? Of course.
I have 10k+ games on Steam and only ever requested developer support for a dozen maybe, including zero games from Feral.
I once requested support for a game from Aspyr but in the end never got it, so there you have it.
It's very common for a game to have a final sale before leaving Steam, so why not.
For example I bought Sword Coast Legends for something like 5 euro because it was being delisted due to licence expiration...
Last edited by pb on 4 January 2021 at 4:14 pm UTC
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Vasya Sovari Jan 4, 2021
Speaking from harsh experience, Shadow Of Mordor is no great loss. The Linux version was so bad I never got beyond the menu screen, while it was completely flawless - including all online elements - under Glorious Eggroll. While I'm still more likely to buy a game if it offers a Linux version, I generally expect to play under Proton.
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Quoting: undeadbydawnSpeaking from harsh experience, Shadow Of Mordor is no great loss. The Linux version was so bad I never got beyond the menu screen, while it was completely flawless - including all online elements - under Glorious Eggroll. While I'm still more likely to buy a game if it offers a Linux version, I generally expect to play under Proton.
I bought it right after Linux release and completed it with zero problems on gtx 970.
I don't know how the port holds up now, but it was a good work back then.
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Quoting: pbI bought it right after Linux release and completed it with zero problems on gtx 970.
I don't know how the port holds up now, but it was a good work back then.
Worked fine for me as recently as a year ago. Never had an issue with any Feral port that I can recall.
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EagleDelta Jan 4, 2021
I don't think anyone posted this yet, but both games are based on movie properties rather than being standalone IPs made specifically for gaming. On top of that, this being WB Interactive, their licensing model is probably a bit more restrictive due to the tie to the Movie Business.
Hollywood companies are extremely protective of their "property" and I'd expect anything tied to a movie license to be quite a bit more complicated than a normal porting license. In fact, if the original gamedev is not the IP holder, such as EA with Star Wars, they probably cannot hand out licenses to port anything to platforms EA doesn't support without the permission of Lucasfilm/Disney. While this is less complicated as WB owns WB Interactive, there are still weird organizational separations that make it even more complicated.....
Hollywood companies are extremely protective of their "property" and I'd expect anything tied to a movie license to be quite a bit more complicated than a normal porting license. In fact, if the original gamedev is not the IP holder, such as EA with Star Wars, they probably cannot hand out licenses to port anything to platforms EA doesn't support without the permission of Lucasfilm/Disney. While this is less complicated as WB owns WB Interactive, there are still weird organizational separations that make it even more complicated.....
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