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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The comments on this article are closed.
Even if it was slow, even if today it works better via proton, i will never thank Feral enough for porting Grid Autosport to Linux with full support for my steering wheel and ffb.
So many days of pure fun, I'll never forget them.
Thank you Feral, maybe you'll find a way to break into the proton gaming market.
So many days of pure fun, I'll never forget them.
Thank you Feral, maybe you'll find a way to break into the proton gaming market.
2 Likes, Who?
benjamimgois Jul 27, 2021
If steamdeck proves to be a huge sucess, maybe there'll be a demand to optimize performance for the steamdeck, this might create a new wave of native linux ports.
2 Likes, Who?
Quoting: GuestI guess I should point out that Valve have never said anything they do is intended to lead to more native ports. Quite the opposite actually - they've officially said not to bother!
So just like Google never said that Stadia would encourage native desktop GNU/Linux game development and people kind of assumed it would happen, Valve have never said it either and it probably won't happen.
This was one concern long ago about the approach VP did, but at least they supported the title running under GNU/Linux. There's not even that here, and native development (and support) is being discouraged - the result of which is this news. I can't see it ending well for GNU/Linux desktop gaming.
It would make more sense to me to encourage devs/publisher to provide native builds and have Proton as a fallback.
Best would be to establish in-house know how and awareness for nativ ports. Doesn't happen this way.
Just think Microsoft comes up with a Direct3D 13, completely incompatible and there is no such working Proton channel.
No way they could pull off something reliably working within months.
2 Likes, Who?
Mohandevir Jul 27, 2021
Quoting: subQuoting: GuestI guess I should point out that Valve have never said anything they do is intended to lead to more native ports. Quite the opposite actually - they've officially said not to bother!
So just like Google never said that Stadia would encourage native desktop GNU/Linux game development and people kind of assumed it would happen, Valve have never said it either and it probably won't happen.
This was one concern long ago about the approach VP did, but at least they supported the title running under GNU/Linux. There's not even that here, and native development (and support) is being discouraged - the result of which is this news. I can't see it ending well for GNU/Linux desktop gaming.
It would make more sense to me to encourage devs/publisher to provide native builds and have Proton as a fallback.
Best would be to establish in-house know how and awareness for nativ ports. Doesn't happen this way.
Just think Microsoft comes up with a Direct3D 13, completely incompatible and there is no such working Proton channel.
No way they could pull off something reliably working within months.
Proton (and Steam Deck) will gain compatibility at a similar time frame than other consoles on the market. Consoles usually play catch up with PC, anyway.
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Quoting: subJust think Microsoft comes up with a Direct3D 13, completely incompatible and there is no such working Proton channel.
No way they could pull off something reliably working within months.
This so much. DX12 even now with Valve's backing is still not on par - and it's 6 years old now. A future relying on Proton is a future of perpetual catchup at Microsoft's whim.
4 Likes, Who?
Quoting: MohandevirQuoting: subQuoting: GuestI guess I should point out that Valve have never said anything they do is intended to lead to more native ports. Quite the opposite actually - they've officially said not to bother!
So just like Google never said that Stadia would encourage native desktop GNU/Linux game development and people kind of assumed it would happen, Valve have never said it either and it probably won't happen.
This was one concern long ago about the approach VP did, but at least they supported the title running under GNU/Linux. There's not even that here, and native development (and support) is being discouraged - the result of which is this news. I can't see it ending well for GNU/Linux desktop gaming.
It would make more sense to me to encourage devs/publisher to provide native builds and have Proton as a fallback.
Best would be to establish in-house know how and awareness for nativ ports. Doesn't happen this way.
Just think Microsoft comes up with a Direct3D 13, completely incompatible and there is no such working Proton channel.
No way they could pull off something reliably working within months.
Proton (and Steam Deck) will gain compatibility at a similar time frame than other consoles on the market. Consoles usually play catch up with PC, anyway.
But console builds ARE native builds.
They are fine in this picture.
All I wanted to highlight is, you're creating strong unhealthy dependencies on MS.
4 Likes, Who?
Mohandevir Jul 27, 2021
Quoting: subQuoting: MohandevirQuoting: subQuoting: GuestI guess I should point out that Valve have never said anything they do is intended to lead to more native ports. Quite the opposite actually - they've officially said not to bother!
So just like Google never said that Stadia would encourage native desktop GNU/Linux game development and people kind of assumed it would happen, Valve have never said it either and it probably won't happen.
This was one concern long ago about the approach VP did, but at least they supported the title running under GNU/Linux. There's not even that here, and native development (and support) is being discouraged - the result of which is this news. I can't see it ending well for GNU/Linux desktop gaming.
It would make more sense to me to encourage devs/publisher to provide native builds and have Proton as a fallback.
Best would be to establish in-house know how and awareness for nativ ports. Doesn't happen this way.
Just think Microsoft comes up with a Direct3D 13, completely incompatible and there is no such working Proton channel.
No way they could pull off something reliably working within months.
Proton (and Steam Deck) will gain compatibility at a similar time frame than other consoles on the market. Consoles usually play catch up with PC, anyway.
But console builds ARE native builds.
They are fine in this picture.
All I wanted to highlight is, you're creating strong unhealthy dependencies on MS.
Yep, but what I mean, it's that the user that knows nothing about PC architecture that will buy the Steam Deck because of the hardware will not notice that distinction. On the surface, it's the same.
2 Likes, Who?
Well in the end, wine is a collection of native libs.
But i see it like this: We are currently in a valley for native ports that would have come sooner or later after the end of the original steam machines. Proton has just accelerated this. BUT when the SteamDeck manages to break the hen and egg problem things will get better again, and Proton plays a big part in making the SteamDeck a success. So in this way Proton is also accellerating (or even making it possible) the way out of this valley.
If the steam deck is a success with a huge playerbase and windows makes the DX13 move mentioned in the previous post, then this is the point where developers need to finally make an active decission if they want to support the platform or not and can no longer rely soly on valve.
Still no guaranty for native ports, but at least they would have to ignore DX13 and use Vulkan, hurting M$'s monopoly in other ways.
But i see it like this: We are currently in a valley for native ports that would have come sooner or later after the end of the original steam machines. Proton has just accelerated this. BUT when the SteamDeck manages to break the hen and egg problem things will get better again, and Proton plays a big part in making the SteamDeck a success. So in this way Proton is also accellerating (or even making it possible) the way out of this valley.
If the steam deck is a success with a huge playerbase and windows makes the DX13 move mentioned in the previous post, then this is the point where developers need to finally make an active decission if they want to support the platform or not and can no longer rely soly on valve.
Still no guaranty for native ports, but at least they would have to ignore DX13 and use Vulkan, hurting M$'s monopoly in other ways.
4 Likes, Who?
Quoting: Whitewolfe80Quoting: LeopardFor anyone wonders if the game will work at day 1 or not ; i grabbed it last year when it was free on EGS for 24 hours ( perma keep ) :
It works on Wine+DXVK since day 1. So Feral porting this or not really shouldn't matter.
its not the fact it works its the fact its not native and proton is the reason its not native
Problem is: As long as porting houses like Feral can't provide day 1 Linux ports; all of those efforts are futile.
Proton matured to a point where it can run those titles at day 1 ( as opposed to Feral ports that takes months, years in some cases ) + Feral ports comes with multiple downsides besides lacking at working day 1 department:
-Multiplayer is Linux+Mac which in most cases makes MP portion of those games useless
-Patches arrive late
-Save files differs between Windows build vs Feral ports. Windows saves doesn't work on Feral builds, Feral build saves doesn't work on Windows
-Large portion of mods usually doesn't work on Feral ports
So those porting houses are lacking in competition and they just decide to not compete.
I have tons of Feral ports btw, some of them are excellent, some are mediocre. I also bought Total War Rome Remastered when it gone live. It supports Linux since day 1+MP works across Windows,Linux,Mac+mods works too.
If Feral wants to be competitive they should try to provide day 1 support with no downsides. There are many TW Warhammer players on Linux that are just using Proton despite Feral ported them. Because MP works with Windows players+performance is usually better than Feral builds+no need to wait for patches to drop on Feral builds.
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predictable.
now everything is on deck, its will be a big sucess, no questionsa bout it, the pre sale numbers already showed this (110k / 90 minutes, roughly 1 million a day maybe more) the question is:
will deck users install windows on it? or not?
if they do, then we will rely on proton forever to get more games, if they dont, then we finally can break the curse, the chicken and egg problem.
valve is puting the eggs out there, now we just need the chicken.
or its the opposite?
now everything is on deck, its will be a big sucess, no questionsa bout it, the pre sale numbers already showed this (110k / 90 minutes, roughly 1 million a day maybe more) the question is:
will deck users install windows on it? or not?
if they do, then we will rely on proton forever to get more games, if they dont, then we finally can break the curse, the chicken and egg problem.
valve is puting the eggs out there, now we just need the chicken.
or its the opposite?
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