On Steam store, it actually says "Open Code", not open source. And they also say that it's ok to be used for modding purposes. Which is not -quite- open source, but still above and beyond of what close to 100% of all game developers do, who habitually tend to faint if you dare asking for the source code of games they stopped selling 20 years go.

And the game looks fairly interesting, too!

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Good to see Square Enix is still committed! After not seeing anything from them making its way to Linux for a while, I was getting worried!

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It -is- a sound strategy, and I think a lesson learned from their failed attempt to push SteamOS-based SteamMachines at a time when the product wasn't yet ready to compete with established systems. If you want to gnaw away at Windows/XBox's market share, you need to present customers a fully functional system that's -at least- on par with what you're attacking. We still lack a convincing argument for gamers currently (more or less happily) using Windows for gaming to switch to Linux. Every single game available for Linux is also available for Windows, so we need to beat Windows as a -platform-.

We have some things going for us - Linux is free-as-in-beer (if you're a system builder that's something you obviously like), open (no danger of it getting locked down), and arguably the overall better operating system than Windows. But we're still lagging behind in a few aspects as a -gaming- platform. Vulkan filled the most glaring hole and finally gave us the well-performing graphics API that OpenGL never was (although it seems game devs are much less keen on low-level graphics APIs than most people thought - so far they seem to stay away from both DX12 and Vulkan and consider DX11 "good enough"). Graphics drivers are another problem, and it's good to see that Valve is determined to improve that area (even if their efforts largely affect AMD users only, while the NVidia end will still be a mess). Distro-fragmentation and resulting support nightmares is probably the biggest problem overall - and SteamOS seems to be in no small part meant to remedy that and establish THE Linux gaming distro.

The downside of playing the long game is that it takes...well...long. What I am personally afraid of is some of the larger studios currently supporting Linux with the few AAA games we have, will lose patience if they don't see at least -some- progress going on. We had some tremendous momentum when Valve entered the Linux market, but it -did- slow down a little. We're getting the odd AAA game, but it almost feels as if we're getting fewer overall and fewer meaningful ports than two years ago. And we didn't have a NEW larger studio starting to support us since...Square Enix, if I am not mistaken? And even they didn't throw anything our way lately (no Rise of the Tomb Raider, no FF game...). The last true blockbuster we got was...Civ 6, in early 2017? And Aspyr quietly faded away as a driving Linux factor since then. I don't want to be a Negative Nancy, but right now we're -losing- momentum, not gaining any.

In short, I appreciate what they are doing, but if they are still committed to establish SteamOS as a competitor to Windows/XBox and PS4 in a few years, they could and should be a bit bolder, IMHO. One developer more won't change the overall picture all that much. I don't know how many people are working on SteamOS, but I think they need to hire a few more if they want to keep this thing going in a meaningful fashion.

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No matter how many devs they throw at it: On the NVidia end, people always will have to use the proprietary drivers, unless some sanity returns to NVidia management (which is highly unlikely), no?

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Let's face the reality - open systems are an aberration. The ONLY reason why we have an open PC platform today is because IBM totally underestimated the importance of software in general, and happily outsourced that part of their business to Microsoft, leaving their hardware platform open for them to install the software that nobody at IBM thought would ever be relevant for business.

Open systems have happened absolutely nowhere else in business history. Let that sink in for a moment! Every other system is tightly controlled by the manufacturer, because control is obviously more profitable than no control (*points at Apple for proof*). Nobody but IBM has ever made a dire mistake like this, and chances are close to 100% that it will never happen again.

So is that really so surprising that MS is trying to correct what from their perspective is a historic mistake?

If people think they aren't trying to lock down Windows for fun and profit, they need to stop smoking whatever they are smoking. I bet that this has been the hottest topic in MS board meetings for the past decade: "How can we push a closed platform to our users and hold our hand open every time somebody wants to install anything on it, like Apple does?"

Their first attempt - building a closed mobile platform to compete with Apple and Google - failed horribly. Now it must have occurred to them that they can also just lock down Windows and throw the key away. I wonder why it took them so long, really.

Now - here comes the problem (both for them and us): Locking down Windows won't do them much good all by itself. Windows is a different platform than iOS or Android, because a very large portion of installations are in enterprise environments, not consumer. Fat-cat corporations and governments will not accept having to purchase SAP and Photoshop in Windows Store. Good thing for MS is that they don't have do much except waiting for cloud services to become the norm and selling these instead. Which is what they do.
As for the consumer PC segment, it's shrinking on a daily basis. People buy mobile devices rather than PCs, and in that segment Microsoft's market share is almost non-existent. Gaming is one of the few remaining reasons for people to buy desktop machines these days, and MS cannot lock down Windows unless they control enough games retail market share allow them to make that move without upsetting users. But they don't. Valve does.

If Valve feels threatened by Microsoft, then rightfully so. Steam is the only thing that keeps them from locking down Windows and generate a lot of extra profit. Which is why I don't understand why the rumors that MS is looking to buy Valve were dismissed so quickly by us. The move makes absolutely perfect sense. It's -exactly- what MS needs to do to give Windows Store the critical mass it needs if they want Windows S to be the norm installation on consumer machines. If they can integrate Steam into Windows Store, they'd suddenly control a healthy portion of all Windows software online sales.
And yes, I know that Valve is privately owned, but hey, everybody's got a price. How many billions would they have to pile in front of Gabe until he gives in? They paid a billion for Minecraft. One game. They won't care about how many billions Gabe asks for. He will get them and an extra one or two for good measure. The guy's just human. Bioware's owners sold their company to EA, in full realization that EA would turn it into a soulless producer of uninspired games, just as they have ruined every other studio they ever bought. They sold anyway. Outrageous offers can do that.

And no, don't expect the government to pull the anti-trust card. Not with a government that habitually dismantles every regulation and consumer safeguard any large corporation disagrees with.

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Quoting: Mountain Man

Quoting: chepatiParadox is well aware of the issue but they couldn't care less about it.

Do they really not care? Or is it simply that there's no trivial solution? Remember, Crusader Kings II was released before 4K was even a viable option for PC gaming, and the Clausewitz engine at the time didn't support anything greater than 1080. The current version does, but porting Crusader Kings II to the latest version of Clausewitz would probably be a major undertaking.

In defence of the person, but CK2 isn't your typical old game they stopped selling years ago and can't even find the source code for anymore. It is a game they are still actively developing on and selling new DLCs for. From that perspective, it's not too outlandish to ask for updating it to more modern specs people might have, at least I don't think so. That and 4k screens have been around for a while now.

But I agree that it's probably less than trivial to do.

Personally, I run CK2 in 2500x1440 with the "better font" mod, and it works quite ok. UHD resolution is indeed a no-go for this game, though.

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Are there any decent (and free) asset libraries for this engine out there? I can code well enough, but I am artistically challenged.

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*shudders*

I couldn't care less if they buy EA (one nasty big corporation buying another is a zero sum game, I guess?), but Valve would be a total blow not only to Linux gaming, but gaming entirely. Valve is borderline too powerful in the market all by itself, but with Microsoft's added muscle, their market power would be unimaginable.

The last thing this planet needs is more monopolies.

I am generally curious when the world is going to realize that unregulated wild-west markets do not work, and the economy needs meaningful competition to function... *sigh*

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Quoting: Avehicle7887I highly doubt Skyrim would come to Linux like this. Bethesda and id Software are beer buddies, we'd probably see Doom and Wolfenstein before arrows start hitting the knee.

My Guess is: A game by a company that has already worked with Feral before, take your pick.

ID Software moved away from Linux a while ago. I don't think their interest in Linux is any greater than Bethesda's itself, these days. And Beth's reluctance to release their games on our platform is of a borderline religious nature. Some of their games run pretty well in WINE and probably could be ported with minimal effort, but I think Beth needs a new CEO before they will consider it.

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No matter what it is, or if I am personally going to like it, but it's great to see two new (probably) AAA titles on their way to Linux. The blockbuster pipe has been sort of dried up a little as of late, and we need more big name games on Linux.

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