Aspyr Media, who are one of our favourite developers, has noted on reddit that they are getting close to breaking even on their Linux ports.
If you are living under a rock: Aspyr ported Borderlands 2, Borderlands TPS, the latest two Civilization games and the newest Geometry Wars to Linux.
They were summoned to the big Linux reddit to make some comments about their porting.
Aspyr_BlairIts always fun to be summoned :)
Great post, and we cant thank you enough for the support.
Because of that support, I'll go ahead and lay it out for you.
We are close to breaking even...which is a HUGE win in our eyes!
As many of you have guessed, we are making a long bet here with Steam Machines. And yes, if it werent for Valve we wouldnt be doing it because we knew in the current market, break even was the best we could do (which is exactly why adoption has been scarce for Linux). What Valve is doing is creating a platform. Sure it will be a small one, but Aspyr has been the experts at small platform development for over 17 years. We are really good at it, and we will be really good at Linux in time.
How can you help? Keep being the amazing community you guys already are. Buy on Linux and ONLY Linux. Wait for the Linux version if you can. Buy directly from us if you can (GameAgent). Help us understand the wild west of distros, and be understanding when we cant possibly support all the permutations. More importantly, root for Valve and Steam Machines even if you know as a core Linux user you will likely stay open source with your rigs and distros. Its the ONLY way Linux gaming will move forward.
Sadly, another reddit post appeared on the Linux Gaming reddit from a user who said they needed Steam Machines to be profitable, and Aspyr shot that down:
Aspyr_BlairAw come come now. Your twisting my words a tiny bit. I said break even, and break even is solid given we have only been doing it for less than a year. Its entirely possible that we could be profitable on our Linux work without Steam Machines in time.
What I said specifically was, its likely we wouldnt have jumped in if it weren't for Valve.
Its a bit like one of your really good friends saying "hey, we are gonna do this thing and we think you would be good at it and can help, wanna come?" And we were like..."sure, been thinking about it for a while!"
After we have seen lots of developers think there is no money in it, this is pleasing to see.
Breaking even, and going into profit means there is a point in continuing to port titles for Linux, which is important, obviously.
I imagine when they get around to porting more titles that haven't been out on Windows for years they will see more profit, as the chances of Linux gamers already having a copy would diminish the newer it is (hopefully). They will also see more gradual sales over time, from Linux users here and there, so it's all up from here.
We wish Aspyr all the best, and hope they announce more titles officially soon. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: ShmerlLooks like they are in talks with GOG about releasing their titles there as well
If this does happen I will very likely join the cause of making them profitable.
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oldrocker99 Jan 17, 2015
It is wonderful that Aspyr still has the spirit and moxie to keep at it for our sakes. I will buy (for gifting, probably) the several games I had already bought in my 
dual-boot days; X-COM, Bioshock:Infinite, and now Empire:Total War, all of which I bought some time before Steam for Linux was introduced :P. I hope I can afford them :S: , but, eventually, I'll repurchase them. I did buy native Tropico 5, at least 
...
dual-boot days; X-COM, Bioshock:Infinite, and now Empire:Total War, all of which I bought some time before Steam for Linux was introduced :P. I hope I can afford them :S: , but, eventually, I'll repurchase them. I did buy native Tropico 5, at least ...
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Great news! Hope they can soon turn a tidy little profit from their Linux efforts.
It really bugs me that for a long time I didn't consider: "Buy on Linux and ONLY Linux. Wait for the Linux version if you can.", at all when I made purchases.
Even when I bought games specifically with my linux game-library in mind, I would still often make the purchase in a windows environment, do a quick windows install, start the game up for a quick trial and have trading cards drop then uninstall it. A few days later I would install it in Linux to actually *play* the game.
It really bugs me that for a long time I didn't consider: "Buy on Linux and ONLY Linux. Wait for the Linux version if you can.", at all when I made purchases.
Even when I bought games specifically with my linux game-library in mind, I would still often make the purchase in a windows environment, do a quick windows install, start the game up for a quick trial and have trading cards drop then uninstall it. A few days later I would install it in Linux to actually *play* the game.
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Quoting: ShmerlI guess its not Aspyr´s decision. If the "base game" used to be coupled to Steam the port will be also, because else there could be legal problems.Quoting: SeredIf the game itself needs Steam to function and you define Steam as DRM, then these games not DRM-free, no.
I don't think their games should need Steam to function (in theory), but they don't let you install them without Steam. I have no idea whether they also use Steamworks at runtime.
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My hope is that we start getting releases sooner especially things like TL2 that I have played to death in Wine may not get played much when ported to Linux. The longer we get games and the sooner they come out the better the chance it gets bought on Linux and played un-bottled. I have hopes for the future.
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Maybe it'll be an ID tech game like rage, wolfTNO or the evil within? They used to have linux binaries but haven't got them since the guy who did them left ID soft.
But maybe we'll never see an ID tech game again on linux, since bethesda has never had any interest in linux.
But maybe we'll never see an ID tech game again on linux, since bethesda has never had any interest in linux.
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Quoting: GuestIdeally after the development is paid for, the artists would make the game free or at the very least take donations to the point at which they could be taken care of throughout the development of their next project, but no more than that. Otherwise, "profit" is immoral as it means you're ripping someone off.Which is pretty much irrelevant to this topic, as Aspyr only owns the Linux and Mac ports, not the initial games themselves.
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Quoting: GuestHow is the fact they do porting work irrelevant? You can rip someone off in any exchange of wealth.Because, as I explained, they do not own any of the game data themselves. They just have the legal right to port and resell it. I seriously doubt they could make such a unilateral decision.
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Quoting: GuestQuoting: HamishAnd they ask for money for doing that work...which means in that transaction, they could rip you off theoretically. So, my point is completely relevant, as I said any wealth trade/transaction can be an unfair one, but, you're not getting it for some reason. That's okie though, no hard feelings. :DQuoting: GuestHow is the fact they do porting work irrelevant? You can rip someone off in any exchange of wealth.Because, as I explained, they do not own any of the game data themselves. They just have the legal right to port and resell it. I seriously doubt they could make such a unilateral decision.
So let me get this straight, are you asking them to give someone else's property away and essentially work for free after a certain threshold? Don't you think that they are justified to ask to be paid for their work? What if their porting work doesn't make a profit for a particular game? Would you have them go out of business?
Secondly, don't you think that the game software developers and their publishers might have a teeny, tiny problem with Aspyr giving their work away?
If you feel that they are ripping you off, then don't buy it. No one is forcing you to do so. In my opinion, I hope they make a large sum of money. To continue porting more games to Linux, because Windows IS a rip off.
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They are hardly breaking even with good ports. Probably because when Steam came to Linux, bunch of Linux users throw their money on 5hity ports, 2D and indy games. Most of small/indy developers are Microsoft only programmers and their ports use technology that is useless to most of Linux community and they will never learn to code portable (aka Linux friendly) code. Good job by supporting inherently anti-linux developers and software, now more beneficial developers to Linux community are hardly breaking even. Change your tactics guys!
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