Valve have put out a news post to highlight some of the top games put onto Steam in May and it's another reminder of why Steam Play is needed.
In this blog post they start by listing 20 games that had the top revenue earned in the first two weeks following their release. Without looking, take a guess at the number of games in that list that actually support Linux.
Did you take a guess? The answer is a rather sobering two: Rise of Industry and Total War: THREE KINGDOMS. What happens to that number if we include those that can be run with Steam Play, with a "Platinum" rating from user reports on ProtonDB? That brings it right up to nine, which is far more impressive. It would be even higher, if Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye worked with Steam Play and since both said they're working on it (Sources: EAC - BattlEye), things can only get better.
They also went over the top five free games, measured by peak player count within the first two weeks following release: Conqueror's Blade, Splitgate: Arena Warfare, Minion Masters, Eden Rising and Never Split the Party. Of those, only one supports Linux which is Never Split the Party. If we take "Platinum" Steam Play games again, that only rises to two.
Note: The top free games list has two entries that also appear in the top revenue list.
Without popular games, Linux gaming won't grow to a point where it will be noticeable. Once again, this is a big reason why Steam Play is going to help in the long run. First we get games, then we get players, then we hopefully get developers wanting control with their own supported Linux builds.
What's interesting though, is this only takes into account the first two weeks in both cases. Taking a look myself a bit closer, out of the top 20 games most played on Steam right now (players online) only one of those games Valve listed in the blog post actually make it at all, which is Total War: THREE KINGDOMS and that does support Linux. Going even further, out of the top 100 games on Steam for player count, from Valve's list, only currently Total War: THREE KINGDOMS shows up.
As a quick additional and interesting measure for June: Looking at the top 20 by player count right now, how many in total support Linux? A much healthier 10, so half which isn't so bad. Stretching it out even more, from the top 100 by player count, 43 of them support Linux.
So while we don't get the "latest and greatest" games, keep in mind that we do have a lot of games that stay popular supported on Linux, so there's at least a silver lining of sorts there.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: SalvatosI think the ideology at our roots actually plays more of a role than we may sometimes admit. Just seeing Paradox recently saying that they will still consider porting future games to Linux on a case-by-case basis even though they have barely been turning a profit on them if at all, to me, is quite impressive. Many companies would (and have) just give up on us completely and choose easier ways to make more money (the DLC example being a very good one).
I'm not too much of an idealist, but in this case our track record shows that we can at least keep some hope alive despite slim odds :)
Absolutely. And I love that enthusiasm.
But I still think we need to "adjust our aim" a little bit in this case. I hate to see "friends" (fellow Linux gamers) having a downright unrealistic approach to this whole situation.
Speaking of idealism, what disappoints me personally the most these last years is that it doesn't seem like "Steam on Linux" was the big break for our ultimate dream, "the year of the Linux desktop" where we see a significant influx of new Linux desktop users. For a long time I expected we would see a good jump of Linux desktop users, primarily from users out there that are already familiar with Linux as a server OS, but used Windows on their desktops.
For me personally, with Steam and Bitwig (music production software) coming to Linux roughly at the same time it were the last two pieces missing before I could finally switch 100% to Linux, and I thought there were more people like me.
So that's been my disappointment in all this.
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Quoting: EikeWe won't get anywhere when we cannot even agree on what we're talking about. When I talk about the absolute number of Linux users having grown well in the last years, and you answer that the percentage is still low, this will lead nowhere. Neither when I'm talking about all games and you insist this would be only about AAA games.
... But when the absolute number is growing on our platform the absolute number is growing TENFOLD on that other platform. That's the point here. Steam grows! Steam gets more users overall, a few of them also on Linux, leading to our relative share of the market to stay stagnant.
You make a point about the absolute number like that's what matters in regards to supporting the platform - and it's not (from a market analyst perspective).
May I remind you that the theme here is, "Steam's top releases of May show why Steam Play is needed for Linux", with an accompanying discussion about whether or not Steam Play is a blessing or a curse in this respect. Would more of those games be made native if Steam Play wasn't there?
The myriad of indie devs, may the gods bless them of course, is simply not the topic. We got plenty indie devs. That part is pretty much covered.
The challenge ahead is to get the BIG companies to support Linux. Some here claim that thanks to Steam Play we will now never get that support. I claim that we will never get that support regardless, unless we get a SIGNIFICANT increase in market share. Like, up to at least TEN PERCENT. That massive jump. And that's totally unrealistic.
And THAT is why "Steam Play is needed for Linux".
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Quoting: ShmerlLet's say you have a hundred million users altogether. Even 1% out of that, already means a million users. That's a lot. I.e. probably enough to cover your production costs through sales. Who cares if total number is hundred million? For viability, it's not the market share that matters, it's the size of your market (which means total number of your users).
Not when there is a more profitable alternative. When the alternative is that you earn more to cater better to your current platform than to embrace yet another platform, business sense is to stay where you are.
If the cost per sale on that new platform is higher than if you, for example, spend those resources on a new DLC instead - you do that.
This is crucial to understand for anyone doing business: The profit per product sold dictates where to put your efforts. To just go in plus, to have some profit, is not good enough. For each hour you spend on a less profitable market, you miss out on one hour worth of profit on the more profitable market.
Don't waste time on the less profitable markets unless there's nothing more to exploit in your current market and you need to focus on secondary markets for further growth - and by then you're probably better off defending your current position in the main market.
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Quoting: BeamboomYou make a point about the absolute number like that's what matters in regards to supporting the platform - and it's not (from a market analyst perspective).
So, you think it's irelevant if there's one million potential Linux buyers or two million potential Linux buyers?
Quoting: BeamboomMay I remind you that the theme here is, "Steam's top releases of May show why Steam Play is needed for Linux", with an accompanying discussion about whether or not Steam Play is a blessing or a curse in this respect. Would more of those games be made native if Steam Play wasn't there?
The myriad of indie devs, may the gods bless them of course, is simply not the topic. We got plenty indie devs. That part is pretty much covered.
The challenge ahead is to get the BIG companies to support Linux.
Did you actually take a look at the list?
It's not about AAA.
Would more of them have come to Linux without Steam Play?
Maybe some, sure not all.
We don't know.
What we do know is developers already explicitly pointed at Steam Play when been asked for a native port.
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Quoting: EikeSo, you think it's irelevant if there's one million potential Linux buyers or two million potential Linux buyers?
In essence: Yes. Please read my reply to Shmerl in the post above yours for the reason why.
Quoting: EikeDid you actually take a look at the list?
It's not about AAA.
Well, it's a good mix, since there's probably several hundred indies released for each individual AAA and this is a list for the time span of just one month.
But the point is, the most popular games. And that very much includes the AAA. And that's where we're almost entirely missing out. That is the massive hole in our landscape today.
Quoting: EikeWhat we do know is developers already explicitly pointed at Steam Play when been asked for a native port.
And to continue my not-so-humble presentation of my view on this: I don't really care if some indie says so. We got so, SO many various gorgeous little indie gems to choose from. We're covered, imo.
The AAAs, though. That's a totally different matter. We miss out on far, far too many of those. And without Wine/Steam Play, we'd continue to miss out on those until something really dramatic happened.
Last edited by Beamboom on 2 July 2019 at 11:06 am UTC
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Quoting: BeamboomBut the point is, the most popular games. And that very much includes the AAA. And that's where we're almost entirely missing out. That is the massive hole in our landscape today.
I agree that we're lacking on AAA games, and that this will be especially hard to change.
But what I'm seeing in this list in my humble judgment actually to an astonishing degree excludes AAA.
*edit*
It's not like I don't want to play certain games. It's just that most of those are not AAA. So I do care for the indies saying that they don't want to port. Due to Proton.
Maybe we've come to the big difference here:
Your hope for AAA games made by ROI maximizing oriented stock corporations is minimal, rightfully so, and so your hopes are on playing such games via Proton,
while my chances for great indie games made by developers who got their heart invested in them (still) coming to Linux are lowered by Proton.
Last edited by Eike on 2 July 2019 at 10:03 am UTC
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Quoting: EikeYour hope for AAA games made by ROI maximizing oriented stock corporations is minimal, rightfully so, and so your hopes are on playing such games via Proton, while my chances for great indie games made by developers who got their heart invested in them (still) coming to Linux are lowered by Proton.
I believe this sums it up exceptionally well, Eike.
But if I may ask:
From your perspective, all things considered, does it really matter if Proton or not as long as it works 100% out of the box and on par with native builds? I mean, it's less work for the devs (ergo more profitable per sale) and the same experience for us?
And even for indie games, the amount of games made accessible via Proton is much higher than the theoretical, potential amount of native builds that would have been made if not for Proton. So doesn't that make Proton a Good Thing(TM) either way?
Last edited by Beamboom on 2 July 2019 at 11:19 am UTC
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Quoting: BeamboomBut if I may ask:You didn't ask me but I hope you don't mind me answering:
From your perspective, all things considered, does it really matter if Proton or not as long as it works 100% out of the box and on par with native builds? I mean, it's less work for the devs (ergo more profitable per sale) and the same experience for us?
At the moment with current market share it does not matter. Linux is either not profitable or not profitable enough. Proton will allow developers to support us. But when our market share reaches a point where we have valid reasons to ask for a native port, then it matters. When and if that time ever comes, "No Tux No Buck" will be as meaningful response as it ever can be.
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Quoting: LinuxwarperWhen and if that time ever comes, "No Tux No Buck" will be as meaningful response as it ever can be.
... But why? Why does it matter, if Proton provides a 100% working out of the box experience on par with a native build?
If you experience no difference?
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Quoting: Beamboom... But why? Why does it matter, if Proton provides a 100% working out of the box experience on par with a native build?Because them developing their games properly for Linux will help the ecosystem, and there is also the risk of Proton not working anymore. When devs develop for Linux they will experience issues, file bugs and then get it all fixed. Linux gaming and desktop will benefit. This is what Valve experienced when they began their Linux journey. They contributed to improving drivers, and now we are benefiting from that work. If developers continue to rely on Steam Play Linux ecosystem will not grow as much as it can if they do. But I want to emphasize, that I'm talking of a hypothetical situation where we achieve market share of 5-10%, which will give us the right demand. Right now I find it unreasonable to demand native ports as Linux is not profitable or profitable enough.
If you experience no difference?
Last edited by Linuxwarper on 2 July 2019 at 4:19 pm UTC
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