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A feature that was often requested by Linux gamers, was a way for us to show developers there's a demand for a port. Valve has delivered something interesting to help. Although it does have a small caveat, it's only if you pick one platform in your Steam settings.

Writing about it on Twitter, Valve developer Pierre-Loup linked to this post on Steam that explains it:

We have made changes to the wishlist aiming to improve developers' visibility of any interest in their title coming from Steam users playing on platforms they're not currently targeting.

If a user only has one platform filter selected in their Steam store preferences, adding a game to their wishlist will result in it being specially reported to the developer in a new platform-specific breakdown of the wishlist report:

Currently, Steam has this feature some of you might be familiar with (set it here):

Now they're actually making some more use of it, so developers will end up seeing something like this:

A simple change overall, but one that could end up proving quite interesting for developers. I don't imagine this suddenly moving mountains (being realistic here), but we've long needed something official like this to help things along a bit more.

More changes like this, to help developers decide can only be a good thing for Linux/SteamOS gaming.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Steam, Valve
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Smoke39 Dec 6, 2017
Quoting: Leopardif this can help a bit ; why not?
That's the question. An "automagic" statistic could reveal interest that voluntary participation in an obscure +1 thread buried in a forum might not, but on the other hand false negatives like the ones I mentioned coupled with the confidence of the almighty "analytics" could do more harm than good.

I'm not saying this is gonna doom Linux gaming or anything -- we're a small niche no matter how you slice it -- I just question the implementation.
BloodaxeNOR Dec 7, 2017
Soooo, everybody wishlist PUBG?
inlinuxdude Dec 7, 2017
Now I just have to be careful not buy a Windows game when a Steam sale comes around and its on my wishlist..
g000h Dec 7, 2017
There is one BIG problem with this though. Not all Linux gamers are going to want to set their Account Preferences to only show Linux/SteamOS games in Search Results. I like to see all the games on Steam, and not just the Linux ones - even though I might favour the purchase of Linux games 99% of the time, there will be a tiny bit of interest in games available on other platforms.

So, the whole point of "this will show how keen Linux gamers are on our game" is completely lost. It only shows the really hardcore Linux players, who have deliberately made this setting active.

Personally I hope the developers realise how flawed this statistic actually is!!!
chimpy Dec 7, 2017
Just added Bioshock 1 + 2, Borderlands 1, and the Witcher 1 + 3 since we have some games from those franchises on Linux. Hopefully developers pay attention :)
elmapul Dec 7, 2017
+1 for the linux version.

wait, what ? isnt that what this topic is about?
i guess they were tired of this kind of spaming

and, looks like valve is quite "optmistic"....
2000 persons want the game on windows, but only 2 on linux want the game on their example...


Last edited by elmapul on 7 December 2017 at 12:46 am UTC
stretch611 Dec 7, 2017
Quoting: g000hThere is one BIG problem with this though. Not all Linux gamers are going to want to set their Account Preferences to only show Linux/SteamOS games in Search Results. I like to see all the games on Steam, and not just the Linux ones - even though I might favour the purchase of Linux games 99% of the time, there will be a tiny bit of interest in games available on other platforms.

So, the whole point of "this will show how keen Linux gamers are on our game" is completely lost. It only shows the really hardcore Linux players, who have deliberately made this setting active.

Personally I hope the developers realise how flawed this statistic actually is!!!

Not only that, but by setting this preference to show only linux games, you only see linux games. I've had it set for a while and with a few exceptions your store page only shows linux titles, your discovery queue only shows linux titles, and your recommendations are linux titles.

Essentially, if you are only seeing linux titles, how much time are you going to spend searching directly for windows titles to wishlist... Unless they plan on removing the ability to only show linux games... which would be quite annoying.

Personally, their logic in doing this must be flawed. (IMO) It turns the preference and the wishlist into a kitchen sink... the more it does the less well it does everything. They should have added a separate function.

The idea of a wishlist on shopping sites is to let friends know what you want to encourage buying gifts. Or for a person to use to remind them of things they like for later purchase. How happy will customers be if someone buys you a gift off your wishlist only to realize that you will not play it because it doesn't exist on your platform?
ProfessorKaos64 Dec 7, 2017
Liam, could.you reach out and check what will happen to existing wish list items? It sounds as if it is only from this point forward.
Colombo Dec 7, 2017
Someone who developed this function couldn't think 5 minutes ahead.
qptain Nemo Dec 7, 2017
I think this is a good thing. Seeing numbers of actual individuals pointed out gotta be encouraging, whether they're 100% accurate or not. You can't take the wishlist numbers of Windows users at face value either anyway. Not all of them will buy your game soon or at all.
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