Kingdom Come: Deliverance gets shown off on the Steam Deck

• 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.

Unfortunately as can be seen in this comment section, a number of Linux gamers are, uh, let's call them principled people and in the eyes of this part of the community Warhorse Studios is the devil incarnate in spite of the truth and the details around the situation.
I don't want to point any fingers around here, partly because I think we are all to blame for this in varying degrees, but I have the impression that a large reason for Linux support being as hard to get for games as it is now is due to the fact that we are simply put a tough crowd to please in general.

I'd argue the opposite. Were incredibly easy to please. We just want what's promised and to be treated equally.

Every time the Linux "community" lashed out it's been because of either broken promises or appalling issues with a shoddy release. That's not high standards though, it's a basic requirement for respect.

We tend to be enthusiastically supportive if a developer gives us a perfomant native release. And we condemn developers who lie to us, or apply double standards to their products.

(Community is in quotes because Linux is still weirdly tribal and I'm not sure there's a huge sense of community that binds us together. Although, maybe I am positively influenced by the GOL community which is largely superb.)

But the situation is that it is not always the game developer's turn to break the promise. You have a situation where crytek promises that their engine will be usable under Linux to the game developer. Based on this promise, the developer himself promises to support Linux.

Crytek then doesn't keep his promise, and what else does the developer have left? It's true that the Warhorses didn't keep their promise, but not through their own fault.

I don't think it's a coincidence that there's still none with native Linux support between cryengin games. I'm guessing star citizen will be the first, but they're rewriting the engine themselves.

As a consumer, you don't tend to care about who's "fault" it is. Warhorse promised Linux support, and it never materialised. Was it Crytek's fault? Hmmm, according to Warhorse's Kickstarter FAQ:

About platforms: we are using proven technology (Cryengine by CryTek) that runs on both PS4 and Xbox One, as well as on Windows PC, Mac and Linux. While we are developing on PC, we definitely want to bring the game to other platforms. While there should be nothing but technical problems with Linux and Mac, on closed platforms we need to deal with the platform holders and we cannot prejudge their decision.

Doesn't sound like Crytek's fault. It's "proven" technology, apparently. Probably is though... but that's still a bad look for Warhorse, in my books, since it doesn't sound like they even bothered to look into the state of play before over-promising. My "total fraud move" comment is probably unjustified, though.

And at least, as Ehvis notes, they refunded (several confirmed as much on the Kickstart comments page).

If you're evaluating a product, you're right that only its parameters matter. But if you want to rate developers, it's stupid to ignore why they didn't keep their promises, because they may have relevant reasons for doing so, which they were here.

Proven technology is on other platforms. Cryengine has no Linux or Mac game. Crytek, according to what I was told, promised to support Linux in better condition than they delivered, and on this was based the promise of warhorse.

(Community is in quotes because Linux is still weirdly tribal and I'm not sure there's a huge sense of community that binds us together. Although, maybe I am positively influenced by the GOL community which is largely superb.)

All communities are like that. Me against my brother. Me and my brother against my cousins. Me, my brother and my cousins against the village. Me, my brother, my cousins and the village against the world.

The Linux community is at the village level or so; within it we argue DEs and distros and whatnot, but we'll close ranks against Windows!