Well, the writing was on the wall for some time but this confirms it - it seems Feral Interactive aren't likely to do more Linux ports with the official port of A Total War Saga: TROY for Linux cancelled.
It was announced today that TROY would be finally seeing a Steam release on September 2. Feral did their usual thing on Twitter of quote-tweeting, mentioning it would be on macOS soon after the Windows release. A mention of Linux was totally absent.
Feral replied to a user on Twitter to say:
The Linux port was put on hold while TROY was exclusive to Epic, and we are not resuming development for the Steam release. We will continue to assess the feasibility of porting games to Linux, but there is generally less demand for native titles since Valve’s launch of Proton.
Considering there's a chance that Steam Play Proton might be able to play it from day-1, it's not overly surprising to hear this from Feral considering the cost of porting bigger games with it being far easier for indies. Worth also noting, that TROY was free on Epic Games Store when it first launched, so it would have already eaten into plenty of possible sales.
Part of the problem though, is how most Feral ports lack cross-platform multiplayer with Windows and that type of thing simply won't fly on the upcoming Steam Deck. Add into that issues with saves between the Windows version and Feral ports, that could cause more confusion if they don't sync up. Not only that but since the Steam Deck is basically a PC in handheld form, seeing bigger titles launch for it officially months or years later also wouldn't be a good look.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: barottoNative ports disappearing means less Linux professionals working on low level stuff related to audio and graphics libraries for example, or even the kernel. Linux as a gaming platform will suffer in the long run as the know how will dry up.Not quite. The vast majority of the advances we've seen have been due to Proton and Valve has been funding large parts of it. Even drivers get fixed up faster nowadays to keep support up.
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Quoting: kuhpunktQuoting: barottoBut Long term I can see porting companies and Linux professionals losing their job and native versions disappear form the market. There's a risk Linux won't be seen as a target platform ever again. I'm not sure it's a good thing...
Who knows what happens in the future, but the status quo always changes. Blockbuster died due to online streaming. Should we have kept Blockbuster artificially alive - just for the sake of it?
While it would have eventually done them in, until recently Family Video was still around. Blockbuster was expensive and didn't adapt to online streaming.
In this case, Feral has no choice because Valve decided to go with Proton and not native ports. There is no alternative plan that Feral can take and honestly even with out Valve it wasn't looking good.
For now, I think something like Unity is the best chance of getting a native Linux port these days.
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No TUX, no bucks.
Bought many Total war games from Feral, but without native version i have no interest. Enough other games to play.
Bought many Total war games from Feral, but without native version i have no interest. Enough other games to play.
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Regardless how superduper is Proton, having Feral abandoning Linux ports feels to me like a huge loss.
Over the years they amassed so much knowledge about Linux porting, and with their latest ports being excellent, to basically throw all this talent away?
I'm not discussing the reasons that got us to this point, is nobody's fault really, but like with Ethan's case, having these capable guys moving to some other pastures is (IMO) a major blow. And by the time Linux marketshare grows enough to trigger again native releases, these guys will be doing something else and all that knowledge probably lost.
Over the years they amassed so much knowledge about Linux porting, and with their latest ports being excellent, to basically throw all this talent away?
I'm not discussing the reasons that got us to this point, is nobody's fault really, but like with Ethan's case, having these capable guys moving to some other pastures is (IMO) a major blow. And by the time Linux marketshare grows enough to trigger again native releases, these guys will be doing something else and all that knowledge probably lost.
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Quoting: dubigrasuOver the years they amassed so much knowledge about Linux porting, and with their latest ports being excellent, to basically throw all this talent away?Weeeeelll, they had a lot of people leave, so quite a lot of that talent went elsewhere.
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Though it hurts us on a personal level now... let's hope for the best. And due to Proton and the Steam Deck that Linux gaming is becoming something more appealing for devs and publishers in the long run. It will be a tough time while Proton does most of the heaving lifting, but once Linux is established as and has proven to be a viable gaming platform, the native ports should become more important again.
But even then external porting might not be as important as it has been. Maybe it'll be done more in house even. I guess outsourcing a Linux (and Mac) port has had it's zenith, and we kinda knew it already before Proton was a thing.
But even then external porting might not be as important as it has been. Maybe it'll be done more in house even. I guess outsourcing a Linux (and Mac) port has had it's zenith, and we kinda knew it already before Proton was a thing.
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Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: barottoNative ports disappearing means less Linux professionals working on low level stuff related to audio and graphics libraries for example, or even the kernel. Linux as a gaming platform will suffer in the long run as the know how will dry up.Not quite. The vast majority of the advances we've seen have been due to Proton and Valve has been funding large parts of it. Even drivers get fixed up faster nowadays to keep support up.
From a technological standpoint, desktop Linux risks to become dependent on what Valve thinks is important for Proton.
Quoting Lee:
QuoteThese are tough problems that need people looking at them, and native cares about this stuff! Instead the money’s just getting dumped into crap like the Synchronization Primitive of the Month that basically nobody making production-quality software can ship.
Egoistically one can say as long as we can play all the Windows games who cares.
But again, I think Valve's bet to terminate all native development is risky.
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Quoting: Liam DaweYep.Quoting: dubigrasuOver the years they amassed so much knowledge about Linux porting, and with their latest ports being excellent, to basically throw all this talent away?Weeeeelll, they had a lot of people leave, so quite a lot of that talent went elsewhere.
I think the biggest shock that I had was when Marc left for Unity. It was when the first pillar started to crack.
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Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: dubigrasuOver the years they amassed so much knowledge about Linux porting, and with their latest ports being excellent, to basically throw all this talent away?Weeeeelll, they had a lot of people leave, so quite a lot of that talent went elsewhere.
I think not many people on here are aware of that, Feral seems to be bleeding off their Linux peeps for a while now. Plus as much as it's been a good thing to have them around Feral has always been on a some what unstable business model being a porting house so there has always been a risk of them eventually stepping away at some point. Even if native titles where being pushed as hard by Valve eventually studios would of simply had internal Linux teams.
But I might have a bit of a different perspective than some around here as I've been using Linux for long enough at this point I've watched commercial Linux porting efforts for games come and go more than once at this point.
Another thing I think some people have missed because it's outside of this sites gaming orientation and focus is the fact Valve simply getting involved in Linux has also spurred a lot of other apps including some heavy hitting professional apps having Linux versions.
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