In a sad turn of events, but not exactly surprising, the President of Blizzard responded to the petition calling for Blizzard to support Linux, the answer is obvious, but what's sad is the response from the petition creator.
Here's the official response to Blizzard not being on Linux:
QuoteI certainly appreciate your passion and enthusiasm around this. Those are some great comments that you have included below, but the numbers just aren’t there right now. Linux usage represents less than 2% of installed desktop operating systems browsing the web, and I would assume most of those people also have access to a Windows or Mac device capable of playing Blizzard games.
We will continue to monitor the growth of Linux, but it is very unlikely that this will be something that we pursue in the near future.
I think we all saw that coming, but here's the sad part, in public directly below this the petition owner said this:
QuoteI am not sure just what the hell Morhaime is smoking but obviously he needs to stop or change to a different plant. How can he say we are under 2% when there is no concrete evidence to prove it. He also can not seem to grasp the fact that the reason why some of use are stuck using Windows is because of Blizzard and not because we love using Windows.
One thing is for sure, I am gonna have to work harder if I am going to break through that thick head of his.
Will keep you posted.
That's a perfect way to make sure Blizzard never respond to that petition again. This also gives them fuel to continue to not support us, if that is the attitude of people who try to represent us.
I think we all need to ask ourselves what Andrew (the petition creator) "is smoking". It was a perfectly reasonable response from Blizzard, and I didn't even expect Blizzard to respond until the petition was much bigger.
Blizzard, we aren't all like this, and please do not think that person speaks for us, as they do not. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
I stopped dual booting and using wine some time ago.
I am glad to see Linux ports, and I'll support the companies doing them with my money. Despite the fact that I can't stand the "fiddeling" around getting games running decently on wine, and I don't own a windows copy :D.
We're even getting a MMORPG with SotA if that's what you like, and we're getting some nice RTS games in future too as it seems, we have dungeon crawlers like Torchlight 2. I don't see a particular reason to throw my money at companies who produce Windows only Games which are considerable hard to play on linux! Though, I do love StarCraft and always will, even when I can't play it anymore :).
I am glad to see Linux ports, and I'll support the companies doing them with my money. Despite the fact that I can't stand the "fiddeling" around getting games running decently on wine, and I don't own a windows copy :D.
We're even getting a MMORPG with SotA if that's what you like, and we're getting some nice RTS games in future too as it seems, we have dungeon crawlers like Torchlight 2. I don't see a particular reason to throw my money at companies who produce Windows only Games which are considerable hard to play on linux! Though, I do love StarCraft and always will, even when I can't play it anymore :).
0 Likes
They are still benefiting from the fact that we didn't used to have games on Linux. I know I bought some of their games back then and ran them under Wine, but why would I do that now that I have tons of their competitors games available to me?
1 Likes, Who?
tobiushirogeri Mar 11, 2015
**Facepalm**
that's all I have to say about that..
So now i've got to find a way to use my nVidia card and driver under a Virtual machine (virtual box) to play Diablo III
that's all I have to say about that..
So now i've got to find a way to use my nVidia card and driver under a Virtual machine (virtual box) to play Diablo III
0 Likes
Quoting: tobiushirogeriSo now i've got to find a way to use my nVidia card and driver under a Virtual machine (virtual box) to play Diablo IIIDiablo 3 actually runs really well in WINE
4 Likes, Who?
Wow this post was like a kick in a hornets nest.
I can be quite dispassionate about the whole thing as I do not play any blizzard games.
I do think that the CEO if blizzard is entitled to run his business AS IT PLEASES Him and the shareholders, management etc.
The response from the creator of the petition was juvenile and non-constructive.
I understand the frustration for people who really want to play wow on Linux but as the editorial team of gol has stated, this is not the right approach.
We are not entitled to games on Linux, we should be thankful and encourage with our wallets developers who do give us a chance.
I can be quite dispassionate about the whole thing as I do not play any blizzard games.
I do think that the CEO if blizzard is entitled to run his business AS IT PLEASES Him and the shareholders, management etc.
The response from the creator of the petition was juvenile and non-constructive.
I understand the frustration for people who really want to play wow on Linux but as the editorial team of gol has stated, this is not the right approach.
We are not entitled to games on Linux, we should be thankful and encourage with our wallets developers who do give us a chance.
3 Likes, Who?
Well. I don't like any of Blizzard's games. So, I don't have a horse in this race at all. I'd have been nice, but even if they did great ports I still wouldn't buy any of them. But its his company, I mean, if he wants linux customers then he can get them any time he wants. At some point he probably will, and then it'll happen.
0 Likes
It's sad that even within the Linux user base there are people that can be that childish. Aside from that however, Blizzard stopped being relevant to me since they ruined the Diablo franchise. They can continue to pump money out of their WoW cash cow for all I care and I'll continue to play games that I enjoy and run natively on my chosen OS.
0 Likes
jedidiah_lnx Mar 11, 2015
I'm kind of indifferent to this little drama as well. Blizzard games are not something that I crave. I can see both sides of it. I can understand the frustration of the petitioner but the reaction from Blizzard was rather predictable.
On the other hand, my most wanted but not yet ported games are from a studio where I know the owner. So I will provide gentle nudges from time to time.
Might even remind him of when he was a mere team lead and was eager to GPL a game when it was only 1 year old. '-)
On the other hand, my most wanted but not yet ported games are from a studio where I know the owner. So I will provide gentle nudges from time to time.
Might even remind him of when he was a mere team lead and was eager to GPL a game when it was only 1 year old. '-)
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pavakatubuntu Mar 11, 2015
Why don't we take such steps against EA sports as well?
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Kallestofeles Mar 11, 2015
Quoting: GuestI really can't stay away from OpenGL discussions - so I'm going to briefly deviate from the main topic. It's not so much the OpenGL driver overhead that's the problem, so much as it's lack of developer experience in coding to avoid driver overhead. Actually, done right, the overhead of OpenGL is far less than that of DirectX - but DirectX is probably more friendly to work with (certainly Microsoft put a lot of effort into getting developers to program properly with it), and so OpenGL will require more attention to "get it right".You are correct and obviously you know more about this stuff than I do, so thank you for clearing this a bit and I do totally agree now that I think about this a bit more thoroughly. :)
Note that I'm not commenting on the end result of this, just clearing up a misconception of the root cause. Vulkan will be OpenGL with all the years of cruft removed, which is going to be amazing. Though more difficult to begin with, I think Vulkan will ultimately be easier for developers - they will have more direct control over the video card, rather than trying to find the "fast path" with a higher level API.
0 Likes
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