Steam's Linux game count explodes in one year, big publishers still absent


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Since Valve released the first stable version of Steam for Linux a year ago, the number of Linux-supported games has grown more than fivefold.

Valve's digital game distribution service now hosts [541] games for Linux, compared to 60 games last February.

... It's a healthy rate of growth as Valve gets ready to launch SteamOS, the Linux-based operating system for Steam Machine consoles. So far,14 hardware makers have pledged to launch Steam Machines later this year.

But while 541 games is a hefty smorgabord, the catalog still consists almost entirely of games from smaller, independent publishers. Activision, Bethesda, Capcom, Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Ubisoft and 2K Games do not offer a single Linux-supported game on Steam.

Full article and source: PCWorld.


Interestingly I was thinking about this today as well. I look on my Steam installed on Linux, and in my personal catalogue alone, over a third of my owned games now have Linux support (59 out of 130), which is amazing in my opinion.

It's a dying shame that the big publishers seem so reluctant to support non-Windows PC operating systems. Not just for Linux, but for OSX too. OSX certainly has more backing from bigger publishers, but still not nearly as much as Windows. Hopefully this is a situation that will change with the SteamOS launch imminent.

I do think it's very positive though to see so many smaller devs supporting Linux now. Linux users are consistently the highest donors in events such as the Humble Bundle, and to me that's proof that the old "Linux users don't want to pay for software" adage is completely false. It's nice to see that gesture being reciprocated by the developers.

Exciting times for the Linux gaming scene :)

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Hopefully Microsoft are not "influencing" the big publishers.

 

Probably more about nVidia and Ati, than MS. Many of the big name studios rely on their yearly "installments" @ $60 a pop, that involve the "same game play" but an ever increasing graphics budget, so until the drivers are as good as they are on Windows, most will probably continue to do business as usual.

 

Then there is tech support for every distro, which is why Steam boxes will end up being just another "console" that need only one graphics driver across every box.

 

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Give them time. They'll realize that there are more Linux Steam players. And shift over in time.

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Give them time. They'll realize that there are more Linux Steam players. And shift over in time.

There are already plenty of Android games. Steams needs to go to phones / tables ASAP if Gabe hates Windows that much.

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So essentially, if you own any major title video games, avoid Linux like the plague.

 

Not at all, anyone curious about alternate operating systems should give one a go. I dual boot with Linux as my primary, and Windows 8.1 for when I want to play a game that's not available on Linux, it works well for me :)

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There are already plenty of Android games. Steams needs to go to phones / tables ASAP if Gabe hates Windows that much.

 

All those android games are little flash-like games. I think we're talking about big games like Scyrim, COD, etc.

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All those android games are little flash-like games. I think we're talking about big games like Scyrim, COD, etc.

The line between big games and small indie games is becoming thinner and thinner every year.

What really is a big game today? A game published by a big publisher? A popular game? A game lot of people are waiting for.

I looked at my Steam list and tried to distinguish big games from small games. It was easy to distinguish games published by big publishers from other games but I think it was not so easy to distinguish big games from small games.

Should we consider Shadowrun Return as a small indie game? I'm not sure about it. Yes it's basically an indie game available for Windows, Mac and Linux but it's an indie game based on a popular franchise and lot of people were waiting for it and it got reviewed quickly (with good scores) by big site like Gamespot.

Should we still consider games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance as indie games because it's not going to be published by EA or Ubisoft and it's going to be available on Linux?

The quality of indie games made such a big jump in the last 5 years that i'm not sure we still need to distinguish the best of them as smaller games. Trine 2 is a high quality game to me. The quality is as high as Rayman. Path of Exile (which is available on Windows only) is a really high quality free game rivaling Diablo 3 in term of quality.

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The line between big games and small indie games is becoming thinner and thinner every year.

What really is a big game today? A game published by a big publisher? A popular game? A game lot of people are waiting for.

I looked at my Steam list and tried to distinguish big games from small games. It was easy to distinguish games published by big publishers from other games but I think it was not so easy to distinguish big games from small games.

Should we consider Shadowrun Return as a small indie game? I'm not sure about it. Yes it's basically an indie game available for Windows, Mac and Linux but it's an indie game based on a popular franchise and lot of people were waiting for it and it got reviewed quickly (with good scores) by big site like Gamespot.

Should we still consider games like Kingdom Come: Deliverance as indie games because it's not going to be published by EA or Ubisoft and it's going to be available on Linux?

The quality of indie games made such a big jump in the last 5 years that i'm not sure we still need to distinguish the best of them as smaller games. Trine 2 is a high quality game to me. The quality is as high as Rayman. Path of Exile (which is available on Windows only) is a really high quality free game rivaling Diablo 3 in term of quality.

 

I think you're taking this wrong. I meant big games as in what needs a powerful GPU/RAM/CPU to run it. A game like Skyrim, you aren't going to be able to play that on a Android/ARM system. The graphics and RAM are not strong enough for it.

All 0.86% of them.

 

And look how far Linux has gotten in the last few years. It shall come.

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All those android games are little flash-like games. I think we're talking about big games like Scyrim, COD, etc.

Mac support and, possible, Linux as an afterthought.

Money in Desktop Linux exists in fun and exiting titles such as L.A.M.P.

Edited by _Alexander
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