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Don't Count On Any EA Frostbite Powered Games On Linux

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Sad, but not unexpected news as the Technical Director on Frostbite at Electronic Arts has said seeing their games on Linux is unlikely.

@HeavyHDx very unlikely

— Johan Andersson (@repi) September 12, 2015



When asked why he had a simple answer:

@HeavyHDx less then 1% of the potential audience, even Mac (which we don't support) is more than 3x larger. http://t.co/o6DCeTCh4E

— Johan Andersson (@repi) September 12, 2015



That's fine, and completely understandable. The only reason we are getting some bigger games right now is Aspyr, Feral and a few others are hoping on a good future with Steam Machines, so it's not unexpected for a huge company like EA to not do Linux right now.

It's a shame, as before a member of DICE said they strongly wanted to get into Linux, so I guess it never worked out for them.

It is yet another reason why I really hope Steam Machines get included in the Steam survey somehow, I mean Valve want to show the market share for it has grown after release right? I do wonder how they will do this. I haven't seen them talk about this anywhere, so we will have to wait and see. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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94 comments
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throgh Sep 13, 2015
Are the games even worth this discussion? I don't think so. Most of the games from Electronic Arts are just repeated content perhabs with polished graphics, most of the time even that missing. So why discussing about it? The older games are all working very well using Wine. The other ones are not worth to be mentioned because every year again there are the same games from this company, nothing more or nothing less. :)
khalismur Sep 13, 2015
I miss BF1942 multiplayer very badly. No other FPS was more fun than that (TF2 came close).

Other than that, I haven't used anything from EA in about 6 years... Of course having their titles on Linux would be a huge plus, but personally I wouldn't support or play them.


Last edited by khalismur on 13 September 2015 at 11:00 pm UTC
poisond Sep 14, 2015
Quoting: BdMdesigNAs you still get to the 1%?
I and others have written often enough, that's are the 1% a fairy tale number is.

Even if you repeat the 1% here, a scattered lie is not true.

Where's the data to back up your silly claim? I don't think your hearsay is statistically significant.
According to web client usage Linux has a market share of 27.2%, of which only 1.1% are GNU/Linux. So the 0.9% Linux users for Steam seem quite plausible.

I got the steam survey recently BTW, maybe I'm the +0.07% *snicker*
STiAT Sep 14, 2015
I wouldn't buy EA-Games anyway, even if they were available on Linux.
Too often I was disappointed after I spent my money on their games.
LinuxGamesTV Sep 14, 2015
Quoting: poisond
Quoting: BdMdesigNAs you still get to the 1%?
I and others have written often enough, that's are the 1% a fairy tale number is.

Even if you repeat the 1% here, a scattered lie is not true.

Where's the data to back up your silly claim? I don't think your hearsay is statistically significant.
According to web client usage Linux has a market share of 27.2%, of which only 1.1% are GNU/Linux. So the 0.9% Linux users for Steam seem quite plausible.

I got the steam survey recently BTW, maybe I'm the +0.07% *snicker*

And you are wrong. Loool.

Did you read the "Statistics" right? No you did not.

QuoteMarket share by category
Desktop, laptop, netbook Dec 2014 1.34% (Ubuntu, etc.)
( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems#Market_share_by_category )

Net Applications say it's 1.34%.

And again: the Steam HWsurvey is wrrong and many have it also confirmed here.
So maybe only 50% or more of the all desktopusers (Linux, Mac, Windows) are gamer.

Thus, your statement is false as false.


Last edited by LinuxGamesTV on 14 September 2015 at 11:14 am UTC
ljrk Sep 14, 2015
[quote=BdMdesigN][quote=poisond]
Quoting: BdMdesigN
QuoteMarket share by category
Desktop, laptop, netbook Dec 2014 1.34% (Ubuntu, etc.)

Net Applications say it's 1.34%.

And again: the Steam HWsurvey is wrrong and many have it also confirmed here.
So maybe only 50% or more of the all desktopusers (Linux, Mac, Windows) are gamer.

Thus, your statement is false as false.

And you are doing the same mistake.
Maybe a higher percentage of desktop users *on Windows* are gamers and a lower one on Linux?
Hm, this would maybe even lead to lower than 1%.

Yes, we cannot "proof" it's 1%. Maybe it's more - a bit. But irrelevantly more.
LinuxGamesTV Sep 14, 2015
[quote=LeonardK][quote=BdMdesigN]
Quoting: poisond
Quoting: BdMdesigN
QuoteMarket share by category
Desktop, laptop, netbook Dec 2014 1.34% (Ubuntu, etc.)

Net Applications say it's 1.34%.

And again: the Steam HWsurvey is wrrong and many have it also confirmed here.
So maybe only 50% or more of the all desktopusers (Linux, Mac, Windows) are gamer.

Thus, your statement is false as false.

And you are doing the same mistake.
Maybe a higher percentage of desktop users *on Windows* are gamers and a lower one on Linux?
Hm, this would maybe even lead to lower than 1%.

Yes, we cannot "proof" it's 1%. Maybe it's more - a bit. But irrelevantly more.

Did you understand how a survey works?

No.

Ok only for you:

Steam have actual ca. 6.200.000 users.

So steam aks now the 6.200.00 users in the HWsurvey.
Now all Windows clients get this poll but not all Linuxuser.

In such a survey, 100% are those who also participate in it and not the total 6,200,000 users.
And that is precisely the reason why this survey says nothing.

And we talk here from all Linux gamer, not Steam only gamer.


Last edited by LinuxGamesTV on 14 September 2015 at 11:29 am UTC
ljrk Sep 14, 2015
Quoting: BdMdesigNDid you understand how a survey works?

No.

Yes. But I didn't argue that the survey was precise.

QuoteOk only for you:

Steam have actual ca. 6.200.000 users.

So steam aks now the 6.200.00 users in the HWsurvey.
Now all Windows clients get this poll but not all Linuxuser.
QuoteI got it more often on Linux.

In such a survey, 100% are those who also participate in it and not the total 6,200,000 users.
And that is precisely the reason why this survey says nothing.

This is why pretty much ANY survey 'doesn't say anything'. Because the rest could per chance be actually completely the opposite.
Actually our little survey here is even worse:
We've got ~80 comments. Not every commenter stated that they would only, or more often, get the poll on Windows - but we just assume we all did.
Now assume that *at least* 1% of 6.200.000 Steam Users are Linuxers (maybe even more, but this would just show that our poll here is even worse), which makes:
>62.000 Users.
In our case 100% are 80 - and not 62.000 which makes just ~0.13%. And THIS should be represantative? xD

If we even took more realistic values, oh, your 'statistics' would be so SHREKT.

Again: Twice, Thrice, no, multiply Steam's Linux Users by 5 ! - And EA still wouldn't care.
Beamboom Sep 14, 2015
Guys, stop trying to convince yourselves that we're significantly bigger than 1-2%. We are not, there's not a single statistics anywhere in the world (browser stats, client stats, workplace stats, whatever stats) that indicates that the Linux desktop in general surpasses 2%. Not one. The only communities we are bigger, are in certain professional science, educational and computing communities.

Now why on earth should Linux be anything different as a gaming platform. It's an absurd claim. In fact we should be amazed we even reached the first 1%.

Let there be no doubt: We need (as in: absolutely fully depend on) the Steam machines to succeed in order to change this in the short term. Without a success of the Steam Machines we may look at a decade ahead where we struggle with reaching even 5%, let alone beating the Mac share.

So just stop. Put that discussion to rest and bury it. The Steam stats are pretty much 1:1 to any other stat out there.


Last edited by Beamboom on 14 September 2015 at 12:50 pm UTC
Crazy Penguin Sep 14, 2015
Why do you want EA to support Linux? A company which treats their customers like ****. I give a damn **** if they support Linux or not. Even if they do I will not buy a game from them. Never ever again. The times where they have made great games and really produced some awesome stuff are long over. EA sucks! They ruin every Studio they get their dirty hands on. I don't want this damn company anywhere near Linux. They only care about money and nothing else! Same goes for Ubisoft and Blizzard!
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