Founder Of Larian Studios Teases Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition For Linux

Quoting: neowiz73Crowdfunding as it stands is a lot of open promises that may or may not be met. there have been many examples from features not quite making into games as intended to Linux versions that were promised and not released to being released years later.
At least with early access if there is at least a beta version for Linux available then there will most likely be a final stable release at or about the same time other OS versions are released.
I'd rather pay for a beta copy than a possible vaporware any day of the week.

As was said above, it's like that with any investment. Investors pay before the project even exists, and whether promises will be kept, and how confident you are in result would depend on what project you invest into. If you aren't confident - don't invest. I'll probably support Divinity: Original Sin 2, since despite mistakes Larian aren't some fraud and they will deliver.

Early access on the other hand is totally weird in my view. In the past people were paid to test games. Now people pay to test alpha / beta builds. The world upside down.


Last edited by Shmerl on 13 August 2015 at 8:58 pm UTC

I didn't back any KS games yet, despite some of them being really good. Larian did make a lot of mess ups with the Linux version of D: OS I admit, my guess is that they weren't ready for it, for the record many companies weren't ready for Linux.

The company is a good one though and I'll probably back D: OS 2 this time around. As a Linux gamer there's something that I always keep in mind - the Linux gamer base is the smallest out of the 3 PC platforms yet some companies still invest their time, money and effort to deliver those games to us. It's a slow process but it's finally starting to be recognized as a viable gaming platform.

The game will arrive over 1 year late and it has disappointed many fans, but one thing still matters: It's coming.

Stop complaining :-)


Last edited by Avehicle7887 on 13 August 2015 at 9:10 pm UTC

Quoting: tuubiNot really. Fully agree on the idiocy of early access, but investment implies expected profit for the investor. I'd say crowdfunding is the bastard child of pre-orders and misplaced charity.

If misplaced charity keeps producing great Shadowrun games, I'll keep giving money to misplaced charity. :)
But of course crowd funding is always a risk for the backers, more so if you're on Linux. But the rewards can be worth it as well. There are a number of games we wouldn't have gotten without crowdfunding, like Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland 2, and the Shadowrun games. So while the risks are larger for Linux users, the potential rewards are also large. Kickstarter can result in bigger and more polished games than indies would otherwise be able to produce. And Linux needs more higher production-value games in order to grow as a gaming platform. In the end, getting D: OS will be good for Linux, even if it's late. Similarly for e.g. Bloodstained when it gets released.

I'm also going to mention that Kickstarting a game is nothing close to an investment. It's much more like a pre-order, only you're pre-ordering something that 90% of the time doesn't actually exist.

You don't gain any profit from Kickstarting, only the possibility of getting a game after some random point in time, with probable delays for the version you actually want.

Personally, I don't and will never back anything on Kickstarter again, too many issues.

Crowdfunding is different from pre-ordering in nature even if similar in some details. Both are paying in advance, but that's where the similarities end.

Pre-ordering is done by studios which already have funding for the game, and they don't need money to create it. It's essentially an interest-free loan. I.e. you pay in advance and developers can use that money any way they want (like investing them in the interim), and the product won't arrive until later. Do you usually like paying before getting the product? I think not. But if you respect those developers so much that you want to give them a benefit of an interest-free loan for the period between your pre-order and release, so be it.

Crowdfunding on the other hand is done by those who can't create the project without it (there can be exceptions to that, but generally it's so). So you enable the project by paying in advance. That's exactly what investment is and that's how I always view the crowdfunding process. If you like the project - back it, but keep risks in mind. If you don't like investing and risking to get nothing, then settle with having less unusual projects which can't otherwise be created with publisher funded approach.

In my perception however, way more Linux games are created with cruwdfunding now than with publishers backing. And they are more likely to be DRM-free than publisher mentality infested ones. That's why I don't mind backing such projects despite the risks. We need more of them.


Last edited by Shmerl on 13 August 2015 at 11:55 pm UTC

Quoting: liamdaweI'm also going to mention that Kickstarting a game is nothing close to an investment. It's much more like a pre-order, only you're pre-ordering something that 90% of the time doesn't actually exist.

Which is the very definition of an investment.....

You are aware you can donate to a kickstarter without getting a game depending on a tier? I gave $5 to many kickstarter, which is usually not enough to get any game.


Last edited by BillNyeTheBlackGuy on 14 August 2015 at 2:01 am UTC

Quoting: BillNyeTheBlackGuy

Quoting: liamdaweI'm also going to mention that Kickstarting a game is nothing close to an investment. It's much more like a pre-order, only you're pre-ordering something that 90% of the time doesn't actually exist.

Which is the very definition of an investment.....

You are aware you can donate to a kickstarter without getting a game depending on a tier? I gave $5 to many kickstarter, which is usually not enough to get any game.

Erm, no. An investment is "the action or process of investing money for profit.", you do not profit from a Kickstarter ever, you may eventually get a product you paid for. It's just another form of pre-ordering for a product as a consumer, you really aren't any sort of investor by throwing money at a Kickstarter project.

Why are you folks arguing over semantics? What difference does it make what term you chose to use and which one is "technically" correct? I think of crowdfunding as a risk, in that way it is similar to both an investment and a pre-order. In both cases you are putting your money up front and not immediately getting something back, just the promise or possibility of something down the road, hence risk.

TL;DR: Linux gamers should not pre-order, kickstart, pay to be allowed to beta-test (EA) or in any other way support projects or developers if/when it's not certain that this actually benefits Linux as a gaming platform and thus themselves as Linux gamers. Don't trust a developer until they have shown their ability and will to deliver. It's too early for us to take anything as a given.

Quoting: tuubiTL;DR: Linux gamers should not pre-order, kickstart, pay to be allowed to beta-test (EA) or in any other way support projects or developers if/when it's not certain that this actually benefits Linux as a gaming platform and thus themselves as Linux gamers. Don't trust a developer until they have shown their ability and will to deliver. It's too early for us to take anything as a given.

Totally agree, amen to that.