Quoting: Alm888Overall, if we look at the picture as a whole, it seems this is a market share war and Microsoft seems to be the lead in this "dance". Valve does not act; it reacts to Microsoft's input.

I might have my rose-tinted glasses on, but I'm not sure that's true. Srs bsns is done on Linux. Microsoft have lost the overall OS market to Google/Linux. They've lost the education market (getting the familiarity of the next generation of buyers) to Google/Linux. Their main moneymaker is based on Linux. Their flagship product, which used to be the linchpin of their iron grip, now comes with Linux. Their own gaming push is evolving into Gaming-as-a-Service.

If Microsoft said, "jump!" and Valve Just Said No, which way would devs go? How about after a high profile demonstration of Linux as a gaming platform? I don't know, but it seems to me that Microsoft are on the back foot. People have already experienced what it's like to have the whole industry under Microsoft's control, and I don't think they're keen to have that continue indefinitely.

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Quoting: MohandevirImo, the pre-orders was just a means to "test the waters". Now that they know there is a lot of interest, they should gear up for mass production accordingly. That's what I would do, at least.

Yeah, hope so. When the rumours started, it was clear that this could be a device that sold 10s of thousands or 10s of millions, without a way of telling in advance which it would be because it's so dependent on implementation specifics and market conditions, both of which are unknown. I just want everyone that wants one to be able to get one.

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But my backlooog...

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Quoting: fleskI find it very unlikely that Valve, a US company with a few hundred employees, just happens to have developers in each of the 27 EU member states and the UK.

We know they've got developers in the UK and we know they've got developers in Germany (read it somewhere recently, but can't remember where, so no citation. Apologies) so then it's just getting a courier to deliver them. No customs hassle taking them to anywhere in the EU (that being one of the purposes of the EU), but there could well be going outside of the EU.

QuotePlus, it doesn't sound practical or cost saving to ship a few thousand units in bulk to a person in each of those countries, only for them to re-package and mail out individual units using local post services.

I was being somewhat facetious referring to them as "postmen." But, no, it's not particularly efficient. To get efficient they'd need a whole bunch of logistics infrastructure that they don't have, but the likes of Nintendo, Sony, Samsung, and whoever, do. Or hire out to a company that does have that kind of logistics coverage and that can get products in shops.

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Quoting: AppelsinYeah, but the thing is, they're selling it (or rather, it'll be available for order) all over Europe, except three countries, since we're not "part of the EU". Though they've inlcuded the UK, which afaik has even more hurdles atm with regards to import/export than EEA (we're EU, but we're kinda not).

It's not like I don't agree that they're going to have to do better, it's just that the limits of where they're selling them are because they aren't doing it themselves. The postmen in the countries that they've got developers go wherever the postmen go.

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Quoting: denyasisI've been trying to follow the discussion and would like your opinions.

We don't want developers telling us to go stick our head in a pig.

A native build doesn't guarantee that a game dev gives a damn about their Linux customers (see Rocket League, Supraland, others), but flinging their product over the wall hoping that Valve will fix it is a pretty strong indication that they aren't interested in their Linux customers, and will provide no recourse when they break it. They're just going to pocket the money.

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Quoting: subIf Valve is serious about Linux, I'd still propose charging like 5 % less Valve fee if the published game features a Linux build.

That wouldn't help.

Sure, it would encourage them to press the "build for Linux" button for some free money, which is more than many devs do, but it wouldn't encourage them to do any testing or provide any support. At all.

"But," you might say, "the discount should only apply to proper Linux versions, not those other ones," and suddenly Valve has to be a gatekeeper, creating lots of uncertainty for devs as to whether they'll have their funds withheld, and Valve are having to do (a lot) more work in exchange for less money.

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Quoting: toorYou assume a correlation between Feral's release reduction and the raise of Proton.
But you don't consider the fact that Feral may have been asked/pushed by Valve to make some ports. If valve is the reason they ported to Linux, and taking into account the fact that we see Valve putting efforts to make games work with wine, it could also be that it's Valve strategy that is at play, not the existence of Proton being a reason "not to port anymore because it works with Proton"

No collusion needed. The perceived potential of Steam Machines created a desire from game developers with no Linux experience to get their games onto Linux, which Feral were happy to fulfil. When that potential failed to materialise, the demand for ports to Linux dried up.

Certainly the success of Proton limits the market for paying someone else to make your Windows game run on Linux when you can't be bothered to do so yourself, but the ports were tailing off before Proton was released.

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What I'd really like to see is some proper dogfooding. Use Vulkan, and use the Steam Linux Runtime. Have it available for Linux day one. They've failed on each of these things with their own projects in the past. They can't really advise other devs on how to do things if they can't manage it themselves.

If they can also manage to make something with a compelling story experience (maybe even In The Valley Of The Gods since they ate Campo Santo) that works great with a controller and can be played well in few-hour chunks (because battery life), that would be pretty nice.

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Quoting: AppelsinChecking out the Steam Deck page from Norway gives the following, happy message:

QuoteThis item is not available for reservation in your country

Valve is somewhat repeating the commercial and marketing success of the Steam Link and Controller. "Let's not sell this to people with lots of money, eager to spend!" Seriously...

My understanding is that it's all because they fundamentally aren't a hardware retailer. Those would have distribution centres in most countries they do business in, and agreements with brick-and-mortar shops to cover things like returns and revenue sharing. And a bunch of people employed specifically to handle logistics.

Valve doesn't have any of that. They're a shop that sells software. They've got a couple of empty rooms in the countries that they have developers in where they can store boxes, and they get the postman to take them from there and deliver them to customers.

It's why they tried to get other people to make Steam Machines, why they're content to sell limited numbers of the premium Index, and why they're so relaxed about other companies making Steam Decks. If they want to sell as many units of the Steam Deck as they can they'll need to get all the trappings of a hardware retailer; otherwise they'll be limited to just selling a few units in a handful of countries.

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