Sometimes it feels like I've somehow fallen through the multiverse into a very different and thoroughly weird world. When Valve put Steam on Linux back in 2013 (see our full history), who could have imagined what that would bring us many years later?
At the end of February the Steam Deck should be releasing to the lucky first few who managed to get their reservation in (not me), ushering in a new era of PC gaming on the go. A Linux handheld. Powered by SteamOS 3, Valve's latest bundling of Steam with open source based on Arch Linux. Excitement levels keep rising every time Valve announce something new, but its the posts from developers we keep seeing with units that really gets us excited.
When you have the likes of Shuhei Yoshida, the Head of Sony PlayStation Indies (and former President of SCE Worldwide Studios), putting up a clearly very excited Twitter post showing off a previously PlayStation exclusive running on a Linux handheld (the Steam Deck), you know something big is brewing that's about to be unleashed on the world.
Pictured - God of War on a Steam Deck, credit: Shuhei Yoshida
The gaming landscape is ever-changing but the past few years felt bigger than before. Sony are allowing more previously exclusive games to leave their platform, Microsoft are doing the same and now thanks to the likes of Steam Play Proton - we even get to play them on desktop Linux. Seeing an Xbox Studios or PlayStation Studios logo shine brightly on a Linux box is just such a strange feeling. Thanks to Valve again, we shall soon even see that on the go or on the toilet.
It absolutely is going to be the year of Linux on the de…Steam Deck. Please don't let the multiverse send me back to whatever boring world I came from, I don't want to get off this ride.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
CyborgZeta Jan 25, 2022
Last edited by CyborgZeta on 25 January 2022 at 7:39 pm UTC
ElamanOpiskelija Jan 25, 2022
- Sony had their own distro, as mentioned:
Quoting: LightkeyFor the younger folks around here, Sony has already released their own Linux distribution before.- Installing Gentoo on PS4 was a thing for a while.
- As PS5 came out, we may not get the console, but controllers were in stores, and a Sony employee contributed the controller driver for the kernel
- Due to Sony's open device program, Xperia phones have been the de-facto standard for Linux-based mobile OS, especially Sailfish which today supports up to Xperia 1 II.
slaapliedje Jan 25, 2022
Quoting: ElamanOpiskelijaSure, private company, selfish, gaming is not same as hardware, closed garden etc. BUT let's not forget:PS2 had an actual Linux kit for it. https://archiveos.org/linux-for-ps2/
- Sony had their own distro, as mentioned:Quoting: LightkeyFor the younger folks around here, Sony has already released their own Linux distribution before.- Installing Gentoo on PS4 was a thing for a while.
- As PS5 came out, we may not get the console, but controllers were in stores, and a Sony employee contributed the controller driver for the kernel
- Due to Sony's open device program, Xperia phones have been the de-facto standard for Linux-based mobile OS, especially Sailfish which today supports up to Xperia 1 II.
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoI wonder why Sony are porting their games to the competitor's operating system instead of doing it for an own Linux distro.
I guess the PS5 operative system is technically more close to Linux than to Windows
Because they want to sell games?
preludelinux Jan 26, 2022
Doc Angelo Jan 26, 2022
Quoting: Liam DaweIt's more like you missed the point entirely to focus on capitalism.
No, I don't think I missed the point. I just happen to look at this topic differently. For me, this is not strange at all. For you, it is.
Quoting: Liam DaweIt's just a figure of speech, to point out how strange this all is for Linux gamers.
English is not my native tongue, but are "weird" and "strange" not pretty much synonymous in this context? Or am I missing what you're saying?
Quoting: Liam DaweAlso, their exclusivity absolutely did work out, God of War for example sold tens of millions of copies on PlayStation, so that's entirely besides the point.
That makes no sense to me. If the exclusitivity did work out, why are they making things less exclusive over time? This is not beside the point for me, and shouldn't be beside of anyone, because this is literally the topic. I honestly have no idea why you suddenly state that this is "besides the point".
Quoting: Doc AngeloFor me, this is not strange at all. For you, it is.You really don't think it's strange to boot up previously exclusive PlayStation and Xbox games on Linux? Okay then. I have nothing more to say, because not long ago at all that was a complete fantasy.
Doc Angelo Jan 26, 2022
Quoting: Liam DaweYou really don't think it's strange to boot up previously exclusive PlayStation and Xbox games on Linux? Okay then. I have nothing more to say, because not long ago at all that was a complete fantasy.
Do you have any good explanation for Sony doing this other than profit?
slaapliedje Jan 26, 2022
Quoting: Doc AngeloThat makes no sense to me. If the exclusitivity did work out, why are they making things less exclusive over time? This is not beside the point for me, and shouldn't be beside of anyone, because this is literally the topic. I honestly have no idea why you suddenly state that this is "besides the point".
Exclusive games did work out great for them. Then they realized how much untapped revenue there is in PC gaming sales. Think about it this way; the PS4/PS5 are basically PC hardware shoved into odd looking (and loud) cases. The games use OpenGL (or an offshoot of it), so porting them to DirectX or Vulkan should be fairly straight forward, and since all the art exists already, there is fairly minimal amount of development time for opening up games to a whole new group of players. So once a PS# exclusive game's sales hit that curve where either 1) everyone has already bought it at full price that is going to. 2) there have been enough sales that people who are going to buy it have bought it on sale. So the revenue stream for those games are done. Boom, more sales instantly because the game now works on the PC, so anyone who is a Xbox/Nintendo/PC only gamer can also be a Sony customer! More Money!
Exclusive games never made much sense to me anyhow. Sure they made sense when the console itself made profit, but I'm betting for the price of the hardware in the PS5, that they are no longer making any profit on the hardware and only make profit on the games.
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