Kingdom Come: Deliverance gets shown off on the Steam Deck

Again, sorry for being a broken record, but devs just do not realize the amount of heavy lifting done for them by Valve/partners/community and probably don't appreciate it nearly enough.

• developer promises Mac & Linux support


• developer breaks promise, demonstrating that they can't be trusted


• developer promises Steam Deck support


• ...

Again, sorry for being a broken record, but devs just do not realize the amount of heavy lifting done for them by Valve/partners/community and probably don't appreciate it nearly enough.

Yes, totally true.
Still, even though is an unpopular opinion, let's also do not forget that Steam deck is a product that Valve is selling to get profit. Also, they get 30% for every game sold under Steam from any dev. So it's just business, not because they 'love' Linux. They need profit and Linux is the way to go.
Same with Android. Google 'loves' Linux, uses it everywhere, but because they can have their own platform based on it. Every company in the world wants the same.

Again, sorry for being a broken record, but devs just do not realize the amount of heavy lifting done for them by Valve/partners/community and probably don't appreciate it nearly enough.

Yes, totally true.
Still, even though is an unpopular opinion, let's also do not forget that Steam deck is a product that Valve is selling to get profit. Also, they get 30% for every game sold under Steam from any dev. So it's just business, not because they 'love' Linux. They need profit and Linux is the way to go.
Same with Android. Google 'loves' Linux, uses it everywhere, but because they can have their own platform based on it. Every company in the world wants the same.

Oh, absolutely. Not disputing that one bit. At least they are pretty good about keeping their efforts open source and not also not creating locked down systems.

A lot of developers reeeally hate that 30% though and are convinced they get nothing in return for it.

Kingdom Come works very well in Linux, I get 4K (FSR Ultra) / ~60 FPS with almost everything maxed out using RTX 3070 Ti.

Unfortunately, in many cases even if the game had native Linux support you're just better off using Windows version of the game because of the Linux version lacks many features, either because they were never ported to Linux or the game was never updated to the latest version in Linux.

Again, sorry for being a broken record, but devs just do not realize the amount of heavy lifting done for them by Valve/partners/community and probably don't appreciate it nearly enough.

Yes, totally true.
Still, even though is an unpopular opinion, let's also do not forget that Steam deck is a product that Valve is selling to get profit. Also, they get 30% for every game sold under Steam from any dev. So it's just business, not because they 'love' Linux. They need profit and Linux is the way to go.
Same with Android. Google 'loves' Linux, uses it everywhere, but because they can have their own platform based on it. Every company in the world wants the same.

Oh, absolutely. Not disputing that one bit. At least they are pretty good about keeping their efforts open source and not also not creating locked down systems.

A lot of developers reeeally hate that 30% though and are convinced they get nothing in return for it.

https://twitter.com/RaveofRavendale/status/1459196810820476940?t=7dg_O7WKiFz8A0rJtS51uA&s=19

Eh, no.

Context:

Developer of Descenders published a new game called Lets Build A Zoo.

He shares sales numbers etc and says game made 500K $ profit within the first week.

Then some user asks how much of those sales were split between Epic Games Store and Steam, answer is: %1 was on Epic.

And then he talks about how maintaining a build on non-Steam stores actually turns into a chore due to this and just because of that they stopped publishing on stores like GOG.

So what Steam gives to developers ( especially for indies ) is visibility and actual sales.

Only AAA titles are immune to this because their IP's are already well known so people won't care about which store is needed for that and just buy it.

With Steam Deck involvement that %30 cut becomes even more justified because they maintain an entire platform ther.


Last edited by Leopard on 17 November 2021 at 1:28 pm UTC

Then some user asks how much of those sales were split between Epic Games Store and Steam, answer is: %1 was on Steam.

Wrong. 1% was on the Epic Store, not Steam. You messed up your stores there a bit ;)

Kingdom Come works very well in Linux, I get 4K (FSR Ultra) / ~60 FPS with almost everything maxed out using RTX 3070 Ti.

Yeah, no doubt it'll run just fine on the Steam Deck. With Wine + DXVK I got 30 FPS on my GTX 950 on medium settings, and it still looked fantastic. Wondering about the controls, though ... I felt it was a game better played with keyboard and mouse. And that's perhaps a general concern ... it's one thing if games run without effort from the developer's side, but perhaps a bit of effort should be spent at least in optimizing the control scheme for the Deck.

Tried to get into this game twice, once back when it was fairly new, and once more recently. It does manage to draw me in initially, but when half way into the story I always loose interest. It just becomes boring, frustrating and some of the writing is frankly just cringe, and not to mention it's still full of frustrating sometimes game-breaking bugs.

• developer promises Mac & Linux support


• developer breaks promise, demonstrating that they can't be trusted


• developer promises Steam Deck support


• ...

• Linux users happily buy developer's Windows-exclusive product


• …

Love it or hate it, such a world we are living in. Linux is irrelevant. This story will (I suppose) prove this developer's initial assertion of the market was spot-on. It is better to ignore Linux completely -- less hassle that way and no real monetary loss.


Last edited by Alm888 on 17 November 2021 at 12:57 pm UTC

Ironically the graphics engine this game runs on has supported Vulkan API for a while now. They don't seem all that interested in updating it for gamer benefit.

Again, sorry for being a broken record, but devs just do not realize the amount of heavy lifting done for them by Valve/partners/community and probably don't appreciate it nearly enough.

This.
There is a steamworks forum about Steam Deck for game devs, and if you look in there, you get a glimpse of how much they actually do. There's also a lot of work going on beyond "just" being compatible to Windows APIs.

Then some user asks how much of those sales were split between Epic Games Store and Steam, answer is: %1 was on Steam.

Wrong. 1% was on the Epic Store, not Steam. You messed up your stores there a bit ;)

Oh yeah :)

Thanks, fixed it.


Last edited by Leopard on 17 November 2021 at 1:29 pm UTC

Ironically the graphics engine this game runs on has supported Vulkan API for a while now. They don't seem all that interested in updating it for gamer benefit.

Cry Engine Vulkan backend state is unknown; it is safe to assume both D3D12 and Vulkan backends in Cry Engine are not mature as D3D11.

Crytek released their Crysis Remastered versions with D3D11 also.

• developer promises Mac & Linux support


• developer breaks promise, demonstrating that they can't be trusted


• developer promises Steam Deck support


• ...

• Linux users happily buy developer's Windows-exclusive product


• …

Love it or hate it, such a world we are living in. Linux is irrelevant. This story will (I suppose) prove this developer's initial assertion of the market was spot-on. It is better to ignore Linux completely -- less hassle that way and no real monetary loss.

Speak for yourself. I only buy Windows-only games at absolutely rock bottom prices and rarely even then - most of my Windows library post-2013 is from Humble Monthly/Choice. I've bought several native titles at full price though.

Also, I tend to remember developer's antics. I'm not buying from these guys - they promised Linux support, then dropped it like a hot potato once they were funded. Absolute fraud move. I have no time for them. They're up there with THQ Nordic for their 8chan "shout out to Mark" antics and Epic Games for their exclusivity bull.

Again, sorry for being a broken record, but devs just do not realize the amount of heavy lifting done for them by Valve/partners/community and probably don't appreciate it nearly enough.

Yes, totally true.
Still, even though is an unpopular opinion, let's also do not forget that Steam deck is a product that Valve is selling to get profit. Also, they get 30% for every game sold under Steam from any dev. So it's just business, not because they 'love' Linux. They need profit and Linux is the way to go.
Same with Android. Google 'loves' Linux, uses it everywhere, but because they can have their own platform based on it. Every company in the world wants the same.

Oh, absolutely. Not disputing that one bit. At least they are pretty good about keeping their efforts open source and not also not creating locked down systems.

A lot of developers reeeally hate that 30% though and are convinced they get nothing in return for it.

https://twitter.com/RaveofRavendale/status/1459196810820476940?t=7dg_O7WKiFz8A0rJtS51uA&s=19

Eh, no.

Context:

Developer of Descenders published a new game called Lets Build A Zoo.

He shares sales numbers etc and says game made 500K $ profit within the first week.

Then some user asks how much of those sales were split between Epic Games Store and Steam, answer is: %1 was on Epic.

And then he talks about how maintaining a build on non-Steam stores actually turns into a chore due to this and just because of that they stopped publishing on stores like GOG.

So what Steam gives to developers ( especially for indies ) is visibility and actual sales.

Only AAA titles are immune to this because their IP's are already well known so people won't care about which store is needed for that and just buy it.

With Steam Deck involvement that %30 cut becomes even more justified because they maintain an entire platform ther.

Dude. I never said they get no value. I said many developers THINK they get no value. And I read this sort of thing all the time. They complain about lack of curation and that there's no visibility. There has been less of this since the Steam festivals started.

And yeah, of course there's value in being on Steam. Doesn't stop people complaining about it.

And yeah, of course there's value in being on Steam. Doesn't stop people complaining about it.

Apart from some really delusional developers, I think everyone realizes the value of the Steam service, it's just that they don't want to give a 30% cut for this value. It's nothing surprising or new, people are always complaining about prices of anything. But does it ever work? Lowering the price wouldn't stop anyone from complaining - it will be either "still too much", or it will only work for some time before the topic returns. The only working factor is competition, and Steam competitors are still in the woods.

Speak for yourself. I only buy Windows-only games at absolutely rock bottom prices and rarely even then - most of my Windows library post-2013 is from Humble Monthly/Choice. I've bought several native titles at full price though.

Ah, nice to meet a compatriot! I myself is a strict believer in "No Tux No Bucks" philosophy. But let's not kid ourselves. We are an insignificant minority of a (in)significant minority. And some "Linux users" like to ostracize us, calling us "zealots". And that is not to mention audacious "Works Great With Proton" crowd on Reddit (and even in this very thread).

Like I said, love it or hate it, Linux is irrelevant, and the moment this game drops on Steam Deck Linux users' money will flow into the developers' pockets.

Also, I tend to remember developer's antics.

You do. I do. But newcomers don't. And they will get the game.

Yeah, can't really disagree with much of that, Alm888. I'm a long way from no-tux-no-bux, but I'm definitely native-first and big-sale-only otherwise. My Prime sub has dropped a few big, but free Origin titles into my Lutris folder recently too (two Battlefield titles, DragonAge Inquisition and Squadrons), so I might even consider Fallen Order at some point if the Christmas sale is big enough.

It'll be interesting to see how SteamDeck changes the landscape, if at all. I'd like to see Linux (gaming) market share rise to around 5%, which I think is the point where you just can't really choose to ignore it as a platform, but a 5x increase is asking a lot, particularly in these post-COVID, silicon-starved times.

I'll stay optimistic though.

• developer promises Mac & Linux support


• developer breaks promise, demonstrating that they can't be trusted


• developer promises Steam Deck support


• ...

• Linux users happily buy developer's Windows-exclusive product


• …

Love it or hate it, such a world we are living in. Linux is irrelevant. This story will (I suppose) prove this developer's initial assertion of the market was spot-on. It is better to ignore Linux completely -- less hassle that way and no real monetary loss.

Speak for yourself. I only buy Windows-only games at absolutely rock bottom prices and rarely even then - most of my Windows library post-2013 is from Humble Monthly/Choice. I've bought several native titles at full price though.

Also, I tend to remember developer's antics. I'm not buying from these guys - they promised Linux support, then dropped it like a hot potato once they were funded. Absolute fraud move. I have no time for them. They're up there with THQ Nordic for their 8chan "shout out to Mark" antics and Epic Games for their exclusivity bull.

Before KC:D is released I was at prague fest where one of the speakers was one of the founders of Warhorse. At the time of the questions, I asked him to support Linux. The situation was such that at a small event in Czech he could comment on it openly, unlike the company as a whole, which was bound by agreements with crytek. Cryengin's support for Linux was in a much more desperate state than they were told. They didn't have the strength to do what Cloud Imperium Games is doing now, which is rewrite the engine. I wouldn't call it an Absolute fraud move, not from warhorse.