Viewing topic Steam Deck’s relationship to Open Source is a surprise?

Steam Deck’s relationship to Open Source is a surprise?

Craggles086 Dec 20, 2022

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Not meaning to be sarcastic here, Guess we have had more time to get used to this. Glad the rest of the world are waking up to the possibilities.

“Griffais said Valve's corralling of open-source devs is part of "a larger strategy to coordinate all these projects and set up kind of an overall architecture" for gaming on Linux. That is to say, Valve is using its technical and financial clout to herd the cats of open-source development in a single direction, in order to get Linux functioning as a viable alternative to Windows for PC gaming.

I was surprised when I heard about it. Valve is obviously committed to the Steam Deck, but working with—and paying—over a hundred devs to keep its open-source innards chugging along really puts that commitment into perspective. To people more involved in Linux and open-source development, though, it was less of a surprise.”

https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-is-paying-a-whole-lot-of-developers-to-keep-the-steam-decks-open-source-software-going/

Last edited by Craggles086 on 20 December 2022 at 10:35 am UTC

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Liam Dawe Dec 20, 2022

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The number overall was a surprise even to me, had no idea it was anywhere close to that.

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dvd Dec 20, 2022

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I think it's just their interest. The gaming circle was artifically closed to begin with, other software made more use of open projects, figuring it's cheaper this way.

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denyasis Dec 20, 2022

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Not only is it cheaper since they don't have to pay benefits or insurance to contractors, but it's profitable. Even if Valve is selling the Decks at a loss, it's making it up in increased game sales.
It's also necessary. Tons off other companies do it. If they don't pay them, they might go off and do a different project or get hired away. Valve's fully dependent n these projects, so they have to pay.
It's also smart. You get the good PR of being "open source" and "anti-windows". They also get the benefit of funneling everything toward their closed ecosystem on Steam. It's a great way keep engagement and sales on their platform.

Last edited by denyasis on 20 December 2022 at 6:43 pm UTC

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Julius Dec 21, 2022

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I did notice a few gaming related projects being strangely active as if someone was paid to work on them. But I guess Valve tells the developers to not mention their involvement publicly or something like that?

DXVK was also developed quite actively for many months before it got known to be at least partially funded by Valve.

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Craggles086 Dec 22, 2022

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The only reason PC Gaming became such a big thing is because the PC hardware was common/standardised across the world over multiple development cycles.

If Steam can encourage some programmers to work for Valve and Linux’s benefit to improve the underlying structure of Gaming on Linux, then this is all good.

It is not like the devs are doing something they wouldn’t love to do if they had the funding.

Last edited by Craggles086 on 22 December 2022 at 2:01 am UTC

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