Today during the Ubisoft conference call where they discussed first-quarter 2021-2022 sales, Steam Deck got mentioned.
It's an interesting one, since Ubisoft has pretty much left Steam behind in favour of other stores like the Epic Games Store. The Epic store doesn't support Linux, and Epic currently have no intention to do so. So unless people are expected to manually load up Windows to replace SteamOS, companies like Ubisoft would need to bring their games back to Steam to give users a good experience.
During the conference call that we listened to today, a question was asked about the Steam Deck from one investor.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot replied to say "We're happy to see Steam Deck coming to the industry, it shows that it continues a flow of very innovative new hardware coming to the market and so we will look and see how big it becomes, but if it's big we will be able to put our games on it."
So in future if the device is a success, and plenty of people keep SteamOS 3 on it, we could see the likes of Ubisoft (and so perhaps other big publishers) ensure their games work nicely on it. Ubisoft actually already has Linux ports of some games, since they currently support Stadia (which uses Debian Linux) so it wouldn't be a huge stretch to bring those builds with some optimizations over to the Steam Deck. However, whether they decide to use native Linux builds they have direct control over, or rely on the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer we just don't know - and only time will tell on how it all goes on that.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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HyperRealisticRock Jul 21, 2021
Ubisoft, EA, Epic can all die and rot in a ditch for all I care.
They are a cancer to gaming and have killed all progressive companies, buying up small companies and churning out sequel after sequel of garbage.
Ohh look FAr CrY 5, 6, 7, 8 this one has a hang-glider! The next one has a really bad guy ohh nooo better save another $100 for the slightly different ""NeXt GeN!!!11!!"" game.
EA is rated the worst game developer and Ubisoft is not any better, their game stores have a reputation of being utter garbage and my experience with those platforms either on windows or linux is horrible! Even their support acknowledges the horrible mess that is UPlay and Origin.
The older titles that I do have from EA on steam are broken and abandoned messes, they just extract as much money then 'dump and run' players can get fucked.
While I do accept that developers just want to be paid for their works, it doesn't help them using companies like EA to publish their games, release them and force them to work on the next big game. Gaming capitalism at its finest, gotta have more graphics, more action, more mircotransactions, gotta cost more, gotta be released sooner , gotta make more money.. more more more! Except more creativity..
Anyway, I hope valve do well.
They are a cancer to gaming and have killed all progressive companies, buying up small companies and churning out sequel after sequel of garbage.
Ohh look FAr CrY 5, 6, 7, 8 this one has a hang-glider! The next one has a really bad guy ohh nooo better save another $100 for the slightly different ""NeXt GeN!!!11!!"" game.
EA is rated the worst game developer and Ubisoft is not any better, their game stores have a reputation of being utter garbage and my experience with those platforms either on windows or linux is horrible! Even their support acknowledges the horrible mess that is UPlay and Origin.
The older titles that I do have from EA on steam are broken and abandoned messes, they just extract as much money then 'dump and run' players can get fucked.
While I do accept that developers just want to be paid for their works, it doesn't help them using companies like EA to publish their games, release them and force them to work on the next big game. Gaming capitalism at its finest, gotta have more graphics, more action, more mircotransactions, gotta cost more, gotta be released sooner , gotta make more money.. more more more! Except more creativity..
Anyway, I hope valve do well.
6 Likes, Who?
They'll only port on platform that are already selling millions (Nintendo, PlayStation, Microsoft), they don't have the luxury to believe in something and I think this is a shame.Exactly this. Imagine Ubisoft and other big publishers would wait until the PS6 or next gen Microsoft console sold millions before starting to publish some games for it. There would be no way for the new console to be a success.
Good thing that Valve already has the existing games that run on the Deck. A PS6 that would only run PS5 games at launch would probably have a hard time.
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Hahaha no dont get too excited the steam deck runs proton correct no ubisoft are not going to develop for linux they ll make it for windows and let valve sort out the proton side so it works
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AussieEevee Jul 21, 2021
For me, the biggest problem here isn't whether or not they are on Steam... it's Ubisoft Connect. Does that program work through wine/Proton? I know i had a ton of problems with EA's Origin program when I tried to run that under Lutris. Though I do assume Valve is working to make those programs work too, as they did say you should be able to install other clients.
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but the issue is: people will just install windows on it.I don't see this like an issue at all:
- #1 Probably, Valve invested so much in Linux Gaming to sell this device.
- #2 They expected userbase to switch operating system *and* left the device open, they also states you can switch to Windows as a selling point.
Do we have to expect Valve to not invest in linux gaming anymore because of #2?
I find it illogical, Why the things should change after the first launch?
So, let windows gamers buy the steam deck and let them install windows on it, it will be a good thing for Valve and Linux gaming too.
As for Ubisoft, Big Coorps tend not to see things in deep depth, so if Steam deck will sell enough, probably they would port their games to it, regardless for what users would install on the console.
Last edited by kokoko3k on 21 July 2021 at 9:39 am UTC
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TheRiddick Jul 21, 2021
Not a fan of Ubisoft, but they are a big player in gaming and if they release some stuff for SteamOS then thats great. Or at least make proton compatible is fine.
1 Likes, Who?
[quote=elmapul]
No, they won't. Not by a tangible number. That is way too "complicated" for most users in 2021. They have a device with a pre-installed shiny working frontend and - say - 80% of their games working. For the extra 20% which might work you have to prepare boot media, drivers, put up with no frontend designed for the device and still can't be sure whether everything will run smoothly.
but the issue is: people will just install windows on it.
No, they won't. Not by a tangible number. That is way too "complicated" for most users in 2021. They have a device with a pre-installed shiny working frontend and - say - 80% of their games working. For the extra 20% which might work you have to prepare boot media, drivers, put up with no frontend designed for the device and still can't be sure whether everything will run smoothly.
4 Likes, Who?
Philadelphus Jul 21, 2021
Hmm, the fact that they didn't mention it specifically but only in reply to a question sounds like they got caught out by the question and scrambled to come up with a PR spin: "Oh, uh, yeah, sure, we'll totally support it if it gets big enough! (And conveniently never quantify how 'big' that is.)" But maybe I'm just cynical. 
Just to clarify, I don't hate Ubisoft or anything, as I'm not interested in their games and haven't played any, so if they actually do end up "bringing their games to the Steam Deck" (whatever that entails) I'll be happy for all the people who want to play them.
Just to clarify, I don't hate Ubisoft or anything, as I'm not interested in their games and haven't played any, so if they actually do end up "bringing their games to the Steam Deck" (whatever that entails) I'll be happy for all the people who want to play them.
3 Likes, Who?
They are a cancer to gaming and have killed all progressive companies, buying up small companies and churning out sequel after sequel of garbage.Just look what those "creative" minds are about to do with the Tom Clancy series:
Ohh look FAr CrY 5, 6, 7, 8 this one has a hang-glider! The next one has a really bad guy ohh nooo better save another $100 for the slightly different ""NeXt GeN!!!11!!"" game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQRUIHXDBQs
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Hmm, the fact that they didn't mention it specifically but only in reply to a question sounds like they got caught out by the question and scrambled to come up with a PR spin: "Oh, uh, yeah, sure, we'll totally support it if it gets big enough! (And conveniently never quantify how 'big' that is.)"
... and whispering to the helpmate "Go find out what a f**king 'Steam Deck' is!".
But maybe I'm just cynical.
2 Likes, Who?
rustybroomhandle Jul 21, 2021
This is as I expected. Steam Deck is viewed as an entirely separate "platform" by the suits. If viewed like this, then I also suspect it will be bigger than both Stadia and most definitely bigger than the Epic store.
While it is weird to view a different form factor PC as a new platform, it does have some advantages. Most PC games will not have user interfaces that are optimised for small screens. UI/font scaling will be tiny on a lot of them. So if viewed as a platform, developers may actually add some UI tweaks to make it more comfortable to use.
The other thing is that publishers may have to skip over their crappy launchers to make the Big Screen Mode user experience better and more seamless.
While it is weird to view a different form factor PC as a new platform, it does have some advantages. Most PC games will not have user interfaces that are optimised for small screens. UI/font scaling will be tiny on a lot of them. So if viewed as a platform, developers may actually add some UI tweaks to make it more comfortable to use.
The other thing is that publishers may have to skip over their crappy launchers to make the Big Screen Mode user experience better and more seamless.
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..They have a device with a pre-installed shiny working frontend and - say - 80% of their games working. For the extra 20% which might work you have to prepare boot media, drivers, put up with no frontend designed for the device...The Deck frontend is the BPM redesigned, which means it will be available for Windows as well.
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I know it was developed by one of their subsidiaries, but Grow Home got a native Linux version not long after the original Steam Machine announcement, if I remember correctly. Maybe they're more willing to test the waters with their smaller titles.
1 Likes, Who?
but the issue is: people will just install windows on it.I don't see this like an issue at all:
- #1 Probably, Valve invested so much in Linux Gaming to sell this device.
- #2 They expected userbase to switch operating system *and* left the device open, they also states you can switch to Windows as a selling point.
Do we have to expect Valve to not invest in linux gaming anymore because of #2?
I find it illogical, Why the things should change after the first launch?
So, let windows gamers buy the steam deck and let them install windows on it, it will be a good thing for Valve and Linux gaming too.
As for Ubisoft, Big Coorps tend not to see things in deep depth, so if Steam deck will sell enough, probably they would port their games to it, regardless for what users would install on the console.
i didnt said that valve will stop investing in linux, i just want to break the need of protonDB by breaking the chicken and egg problem.
valve broke part of the chiken problem by making tons of games work on linux, now we need to break the egg problem (lack of users) but even that thing might not be enough to do such change.
i dont want linux to have "an subset of windows games" forever
as for ubisoft porting, i hope they will indeed, the issue is:
if most of the users keep linux at it, and this device sell like hotcakes, they will port for sure.
if most users install windows on it, then valve played their cards wrong again and linux might lose the only opportunity it ever had of actually growing.
on a side note, assuming that valve threat this thing like an console (stay with it for ~5 years instead of launching an sucessor all the time like on pc) and that no other company manage to enter this market with an better deal, how many units do you think this thing can sell before we start the next gen of devices? (nintendo launches switch 2, valve launches dex2 , sony/microsoft might try to enter this market)
i hope it sell as well as an console would, 80~150 millions, this is not as much as pc sell by any means, but its enough to convince all the biggest developers to support it.
i think it has the potential to sell 80 millions, maybe even 100 millions, not much more than this, but valve probably would launch an sequel before that happens and many games may only work on the latest devices as it happens to pc.
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Dunno about other ubisoft games, but uno's multiplayer stopped working when they upgraded their launcher to ubisoft connect.
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slaapliedje Jul 21, 2021
Pretty sure Uplay or Ubi Connect or whatever it is called this week works fine in wine. I had tried Assassin's Creed Something in it not too long ago and I thought it had worked...
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..They have a device with a pre-installed shiny working frontend and - say - 80% of their games working. For the extra 20% which might work you have to prepare boot media, drivers, put up with no frontend designed for the device...The Deck frontend is the BPM redesigned, which means it will be available for Windows as well.
Is this fact or just guessing? Anyway, you are viewing that from the Linux user perspective which pretty much always has been forced to install an OS and setup the system. This is something rarely ever happens to Windows users.
0 Likes
..They have a device with a pre-installed shiny working frontend and - say - 80% of their games working. For the extra 20% which might work you have to prepare boot media, drivers, put up with no frontend designed for the device...The Deck frontend is the BPM redesigned, which means it will be available for Windows as well.
Is this fact or just guessing? Anyway, you are viewing that from the Linux user perspective which pretty much always has been forced to install an OS and setup the system. This is something rarely ever happens to Windows users.
austinp_valvehttps://steamcommunity.com/groups/bigpicture/discussions/1/5167301764850695635/#c5167301764854104718
Yes, we are replacing Big Picture with the new UI from Deck. We don't have an ETA to share yet though.
I haven't added any personal perspective to my comment, I just relayed a bit of information.
2 Likes, Who?
ubisoft loves denuvo. denuvo does not exist for linux. i dont know if it is even possible to make a denuvo native for linux
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One tiny note:
You don't need to use Windows to use EGS or other stores. There's Lutris.
You don't need to use Windows to use EGS or other stores. There's Lutris.
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