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.
Quoting: NarvarthHowever, these comparisons were taken quite some time ago. Presumably the native ports stayed where they were, Proton evolved and might yield more competitive results today.Quoting: TeodosioI think this is good news, Feral ports were usually not very good: lower performance, delayed patches, additional bugs, etc.. The very idea of "porting" smells of a sub-par product.
I like to see *native* releases; it they cannot provide that, ensuring good compatibility with Proton may be better than a port.
The last Feral ports (i.e. Vulkan) run better than the proton/dxvk version. See for example total war here or Shadow of the tomb raider.
Quoting: gradyvuckovicIt's passive-voice: it's not Feral's decision, they're just a contractor. Just like it wasn't their decision that Creative Assembly made it an Epic exclusive for a year, or that Creative Assembly refuse to use a library that will allow cross-platform multiplayer, or that Creative Assembly don't give them access to the games or patches in advance to have same-day releases. But they can't say, "Creative Assembly shafted us again," because, you know, they'd like more work in the future.Quotebut there is generally less demand for native titles since Valve’s launch of Proton.
Here's what I read..
QuoteHow well this game runs in Proton already represents more then the amount of effort that can be justified putting into a native port for Linux right now.
If Linux had more than 0.9% market share, this wouldn't happen.
Because if Linux had more than 0.9% market share, Feral would very much so care how well their game runs on Linux, enough to want to control the experience by developing a native version and offering the best experience possible, rather than just settling for whatever works via Proton.
This doesn't harm the goal of growing the Linux marketshare, it's just an acknowledgement of how small our marketshare is.
TheRiddick Jul 28, 2021
The big problem with feral releases is when games get updates, and the fact the linux versions are under timed licenses. This is why Mad Max and some of their other Mordor games no longer have the penguin icon in store.
Current game engines are multi targeted to PC , PS4, PS5, Linux, Stadia , etc. so it should be a some amount of clicks to build the game to Linux if there will be demand for it.
Last edited by lqe5433 on 28 July 2021 at 7:25 am UTC
TheRiddick Jul 28, 2021
Quoting: lqe5433etc. so it should be a some amount of clicks to build the game to Linux if there will be demand for it.
Unfortunately devs I've asked don't agree. They claim games simply don't work when they try to port to Linux and need a huge amount of manual tweaking and testing which consumes a large amount of time.
Quoting: TheRiddicklqe5433 is talking about multiplatform development, you're talking about porting after the fact. They're not the same thing.Quoting: lqe5433etc. so it should be a some amount of clicks to build the game to Linux if there will be demand for it.
Unfortunately devs I've asked don't agree. They claim games simply don't work when they try to port to Linux and need a huge amount of manual tweaking and testing which consumes a large amount of time.
Quoting: NarvarthQuoting: TeodosioI think this is good news, Feral ports were usually not very good: lower performance, delayed patches, additional bugs, etc.. The very idea of "porting" smells of a sub-par product.
I like to see *native* releases; it they cannot provide that, ensuring good compatibility with Proton may be better than a port.
The last Feral ports (i.e. Vulkan) run better than the proton/dxvk version. See for example total war here or Shadow of the tomb raider.
+1 this. I've tested in 2021 Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Ferral port was even faster then Windows DX12 version about ~8% which is huge difference IMO. At least on Radeon VII graphics card.
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