Quoting: utxWhat do you think is better for linux users and fans of drm free gaming. Humble bundle or itchio?

Itch.io, without a doubt.

Humble mostly sells keys to other game stores like Steam these days, so not great if your definition of DRM-free is "no client needed to install and play". And I don't see them doing much for Linux gaming lately. Of course, some relatively early Linux ports wouldn't exist if not for their old Humble Indie Bundles, but that was many years ago, before IGN acquired them.

Itch.io doesn't really actively promote Linux gaming either, but at least they support developers and gamers on all the major platforms more or less equally.

itch.io is the first company to get my money when a game comes out that I want. I like that I can use the digital distribution or use the binaries that are downloadable from the site. I think their bundles are better bargains. Some of their bundles have 100s of games for a few bucks. So far almost every linux game that I've gotten by coin or freeware has worked without issue. They also give refunds back pretty rapidly when they don't. They don't even ask questions.

Humble has a lot of outdated linux binaries and they also remove binaries too. Recently, I tried to re-download the Skullgirls DRM free version for an offline tournament and it was no longer in my library. Same issue with other games like Anodyne.

Last edited by Mezron on 15 October 2022 at 12:17 am UTC

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: utxWhat do you think is better for linux users and fans of drm free gaming. Humble bundle or itchio?

Itch.io, without a doubt.

Humble mostly sells keys to other game stores like Steam these days, so not great if your definition of DRM-free is "no client needed to install and play". And I don't see them doing much for Linux gaming lately. Of course, some relatively early Linux ports wouldn't exist if not for their old Humble Indie Bundles, but that was many years ago, before IGN acquired them.

Itch.io doesn't really actively promote Linux gaming either, but at least they support developers and gamers on all the major platforms more or less equally.

on Itch.io, if a game has the linux icon then it's native always?

Quoting: utx

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: utxWhat do you think is better for linux users and fans of drm free gaming. Humble bundle or itchio?

Itch.io, without a doubt.

Humble mostly sells keys to other game stores like Steam these days, so not great if your definition of DRM-free is "no client needed to install and play". And I don't see them doing much for Linux gaming lately. Of course, some relatively early Linux ports wouldn't exist if not for their old Humble Indie Bundles, but that was many years ago, before IGN acquired them.

Itch.io doesn't really actively promote Linux gaming either, but at least they support developers and gamers on all the major platforms more or less equally.

on Itch.io, if a game has the linux icon then it's native always?

Due to how Itch.io works, there's not much in the way of quality control, so it's completely up to the developer. I suppose the platform wouldn't be so popular for game jams otherwise.

That said, pretty much all the Linux downloads I've seen have been proper native builds, but there are no rules against wrappers or emulators.

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: utx

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: utxWhat do you think is better for linux users and fans of drm free gaming. Humble bundle or itchio?

Itch.io, without a doubt.

Humble mostly sells keys to other game stores like Steam these days, so not great if your definition of DRM-free is "no client needed to install and play". And I don't see them doing much for Linux gaming lately. Of course, some relatively early Linux ports wouldn't exist if not for their old Humble Indie Bundles, but that was many years ago, before IGN acquired them.

Itch.io doesn't really actively promote Linux gaming either, but at least they support developers and gamers on all the major platforms more or less equally.

on Itch.io, if a game has the linux icon then it's native always?

Due to how Itch.io works, there's not much in the way of quality control, so it's completely up to the developer. I suppose the platform wouldn't be so popular for game jams otherwise.

That said, pretty much all the Linux downloads I've seen have been proper native builds, but there are no rules against wrappers or emulators.

Ok, would there be a way to tell if it wasn't native? Perhaps it would in theory come bundled with wine or something?

I suppose this comes down to your definition of "native". It's pretty easy to check if there's a proper Linux binary in the install folder or archive, but if that's not native enough for you, you'll have to dig deeper. Usually if there's something weird going on, you'll find a mention on the game's page on Itch, or in the forums/comments.

Quoting: utxOk, would there be a way to tell if it wasn't native? Perhaps it would in theory come bundled with wine or something?

They have a listing of binaries offered on the game page if they don't have a demo for you to test you can always just ask the dev direct on the page.

Better for who? Better for the game developer, probably itch.io. Better for the player, depends. Will they download the game from itch.io manually or use a game launcher that does that for them? If they are more likely to play a game in steam, steam may be the better place to have the game and in which case humble bundle might be better. (Some developers give you a steam key even if you buy from itch which might make it a better deal since you can play easily with steam and get a DRM free version if you want.)