After being in Beta for a while for pre-orders, Big Ambitions, a role-playing business sim from Hovgaard Games (who previously developed Startup Company) launched in Early Access on Steam and then dropped Native Linux support.
It entered Early Access on March 10th, with an announcement made in their Steam forum noting they "no longer offer native Linux support for Big Ambitions" but they will "continue supporting and testing against Proton" and they plan to get Steam Deck Verified too.
For players who don't see Proton as an option, they said Steam will give refunds.
As for why? They saw a "very high amount of non-gameplay-related bugs (random crashing, high VRAM usage, file access issues, etc.)" and noted the low amount of players on Linux so they didn't think it was "fair to the rest of our player base" to spend more time on it.
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It's a shame when this happens but thanks to the Steam Play Proton translation layer, it does still mean Linux players will be able to run it and in this case the developer will support it there. Unless developers have Linux expertise and extra time for the currently smaller amount of users, Proton can often just work better, because it's constantly upgraded and optimized by Valve developers.
They're not the first by a long stretch to do this, and they won't be the last.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
InhaleOblivion Mar 21
Native code on Linux should be what devs strive for. However with the substantial growth from Proton and the Steam Deck. We have options now that allow us to just leave that Windows build turned off. I literally only run Windows to play certain early access, and closed beta/open beta titles like Diablo 4(which works well on the Steam Deck too). I never saw this coming in my lifetime. We can all officially say we're Linux gamers, and not have people laugh thinking we can't play the latest titles anymore. We can build a PC now just for Linux, and not even think about installing Windows 11 telemetry edition.
mr-victory Mar 21
Quoting: InhaleOblivionAnyone of us who has used Linux for years prior to the advances of gaming understands why those of us who are lifelong gamers have two PC builds.I am biased but I must say that 2 PCs sound overkill to me, compared to dual booting.
Uberkeyser Mar 21
Quoting: InhaleOblivionthose of us who are lifelong gamers have two PC builds.Thinking back of the days we played Pong and Pacman.... Yepp I can consider myself a lifelong gamer.
But I do not know a single Person who maintains two dedicated PC hardware sets, one exclusively for Windows and one exclusively for Linux. (Assuming that Raspberry Pis and DIY servers don't count).
Dual boot
Quoting: TermyNot great - but as the explicitly said they will make sure it is tested on proton, i'm halfway fine with that.
Exactly halfway for me: explicitly having Proton as a development and testing target means that I'd get a game at 50% off, rather than at full price if they'd had Linux as a development and testing target.
Quoting: InhaleOblivionAnyone of us who has used Linux for years prior to the advances of gaming understands why those of us who are lifelong gamers have two PC builds.Nope. Gaming every single day for ~35 years, using Linux for ~20 years. If a game doesn't work on Linux, I'm not interested in it.
Quoting: mr-victoryQuoting: InhaleOblivionAnyone of us who has used Linux for years prior to the advances of gaming understands why those of us who are lifelong gamers have two PC builds.I am biased but I must say that 2 PCs sound overkill to me, compared to dual booting.
I don't know this game, but it's a terrible news.
I have 3 computers with the different Linux distributions to play different games published between 1996 - 2004 (e.g. Mohaa), 2004 - 2015 (e.g. Jack Keane), 2015 - 2023.
mr-victory Mar 21
Quoting: CatKillerIf a game doesn't work on Linux, I'm not interested in it.And I still dual boot in 2023
One day, one day...
Mar 21
QuoteThey saw a "very high amount of non-gameplay-related bugs (random crashing, high VRAM usage, file access issues, etc.)"Given that a large number of Unity games with native Linux versions seemingly don't experience random crashing, high VRAM usage, or file access issues, I would classify these as likely "non-knowing-how-to-use-Unity" bugs, which will probably bite them in the Windows sooner or later anyway.
Oh well.
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