An editorial on this subject was requested by arnej who reminded me on GamingOnLinux's IRC channel that there is now another, perhaps even more important reason not to buy games in advance of their actual release on Linux.
Makes sense. With Feral and Aspyr having crossed over into the frontiers of Linux gaming with XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Civilization 5 respectively, plus all their downloadable content and both massive titles in terms of gameplay, brand, budget, and so on, it stands to reason that such endeavours should be rewarded, especially when both titles aren't brand new and thus pose more of a risk for the both of them.
Here's what Aspyr_Blair said on the matter:
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icculus spoke about this subject as well in his usual, concise manner!
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Buying a game that does not yet have a Linux client doesn't make sense anyway since you cannot play the game. Apart from that, it is always wise to wait and see how good of a port it actually is. Don't spend your money blindly! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
arnejThe contracts of Feral and Aspyr will only get paid for purchases after a port happened. We now have another reason to only buy games when they are available for Linux: To support the porters.
Makes sense. With Feral and Aspyr having crossed over into the frontiers of Linux gaming with XCOM: Enemy Unknown and Civilization 5 respectively, plus all their downloadable content and both massive titles in terms of gameplay, brand, budget, and so on, it stands to reason that such endeavours should be rewarded, especially when both titles aren't brand new and thus pose more of a risk for the both of them.
Here's what Aspyr_Blair said on the matter:
Aspyr_BlairAspyr gets paid on new or future purchases of the Linux and Mac versions of Civ V. If you purchases the game on Windows say...5 months ago...then the PC publisher/developer was paid for that transaction (as they should be). Essentially, Steam knows what platform you are on through the client and processes payment to the developer accordingly.
Lots of fans are worried that if they purchase through a browser or a PC at work for example, that we wont get compensated. As long as you play the game on your Linux or Mac in the first week or so and stay on that platform for your play, the payment will then shift over to us as the Linux publisher/developer.
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Aspyr_BlairDLC's are treated as separate transactions, so if you purchase BNW today on your Linux client, we will get the credit.
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Aspyr_BlairWe are paid only for Mac/Linux purchases.
The key is the target system should be played on in the first week or two, otherwise the sale defaults to the primary platform (in this case, PC). Still...Valve has some metrics on handling weird cases like that and we do get compensated. Example: mobile browser purchased but not launched on Linux until 5 weeks later...etc.
If you want to be SURE, launch the game on the target system relatively quickly, even if you dont play it much, that launch should help the metric.
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Aspyr_BlairAs long as you purchased the gift version through your Linux Steam client, we should be golden. Just also make sure that whomever you gift it to is playing on Linux or Mac ;)
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Aspyr_BlairIf you purchase on the Linux client, Aspyr would get credit for the sale immediately BUT Steam is smart, so once your buddy plays on Windows the system knows that user is really a PC customer and gives the credit back over to the fine folks at 2K. Sometimes there is a grey area where we split the revenue up but that is pretty rare. Its really a pretty smart system.
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icculus spoke about this subject as well in his usual, concise manner!
icculusInstall and play it on Linux for the first week after you buy it and they consider it a Linux sale.
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Buying a game that does not yet have a Linux client doesn't make sense anyway since you cannot play the game. Apart from that, it is always wise to wait and see how good of a port it actually is. Don't spend your money blindly! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I just hope my XCOM purchase didn't go to waste
/me starts download
If we buy games ported by third parties say one month before release, all the money have already been sent to the developers, instead of a portion going to the people that are doing the porting. This is probably because Valve have to send the money somewhere and since there is no Linux version yet, it gets counted as a Windows game.
For games that are ported in-house it doesn't matter since the money will go to the devs either way.
Is this mean my money go to windows developers ??? :><:
I expect some serious discussions about that in steam forum
Basically yeah. If you don't play it on Linux within the first few weeks, it defaults to being a Windows purchase.
please make some noise
If you get the game for all platforms all porters should get paid. Though, in cases where ports are sold by different publishers maybe purchases should be done per platform.
You're all just worried that the porter gets paid but that's not the only important concern. If you buy a game that only has a Windows version and a promise to port it to GNU/Linux, the message they're getting is that's all you need to be happy. No need to really do the port or care much about it.
Besides, companies like to look at charts and decide what's best for them based on the revenue per platform. If you buy the game for Windows while waiting for a port, your purchase will be counted in the Windows total. Later you'll hear from that company that GNU/Linux sales were poor. Thank you fast buyers and Wine gamers. :(