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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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tuubi Dec 8, 2017
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Quoting: edoNow devs will finally realize how really few people are the people making so much noise about linux versions of the games.
Just in case you're not being sarcastic: If they "realize" anything at all based on these numbers, they're idiots. This number won't come close to reflecting reality, partly due to the problems brought up here. If Steam had a proper port wishlist feature, it might help in gauging interest. As it is, developers and publishers would do much better with Linux sales data on current ports of games in their genre/market.
Eike Dec 8, 2017
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To ease filling your whish list (if you like to), I suggest collecting games worthy,
so the whish is only two clicks away for each...

http://steamcommunity.com/app/221410/discussions/0/1500126447390588003/
Of those Win/Mac only titles, i just added some LA CLASSICS due this change which i used to play.

Dark Forces
X-Wing
Tie Fighter
The Dig
X-Wing Alliance
X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter +The Balance Of Power
Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast
Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
The Secret of the Monkey Island

-I don't think i'll add any current Win-only titles until the system makes more sense.

PS. I know all of these work through Wine. Won't help Linux gaming if one only accepts that route without official support or similar.
qptain Nemo Dec 8, 2017
Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: edoNow devs will finally realize how really few people are the people making so much noise about linux versions of the games.
Just in case you're not being sarcastic: If they "realize" anything at all based on these numbers, they're idiots. This number won't come close to reflecting reality, partly due to the problems brought up here. If Steam had a proper port wishlist feature, it might help in gauging interest. As it is, developers and publishers would do much better with Linux sales data on current ports of games in their genre/market.
That depends on what you consider "reality". It's the number of people who are both fairly committed to only playing on Linux most of the time and still interested in the particular game. You can point out the inconvenience of it all, but it seems pretty real and meaningful to me. We might dislike that this number will be small, what it suggests, and that a dedicated "no tux, no bux" button would be much better, and so on, but that doesn't mean it's a meaningless number.
tuubi Dec 8, 2017
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Quoting: qptain NemoThat depends on what you consider "reality". It's the number of people who are both fairly committed to only playing on Linux most of the time and still interested in the particular game.
Well I for one am so committed that you won't find non-Linux games on my wishlist. Even ones that I'd like to see on Linux.

EDIT: My point is, this only works for Linux gamers who know about this feature, don't mind filtering out Windows games on Steam's front page and don't mind cluttering up their wishlists with games they might never be able to play. That means there's bound to be a lot of potential Linux customers either unknowingly or intentionally missing from that number.


Last edited by tuubi on 8 December 2017 at 5:58 pm UTC
qptain Nemo Dec 8, 2017
Quoting: tuubi
Quoting: qptain NemoThat depends on what you consider "reality". It's the number of people who are both fairly committed to only playing on Linux most of the time and still interested in the particular game.
Well I for one am so committed that you won't find non-Linux games on my wishlist. Even ones that I'd like to see on Linux.

EDIT: My point is, this only works for Linux gamers who know about this feature, don't mind filtering out Windows games on Steam's front page and don't mind cluttering up their wishlists with games they might never be able to play. That means there's bound to be a lot of potential Linux customers either unknowingly or intentionally missing from that number.
Yeah, just to be clear, I didn't mean to introduce the idea of judging different people's level of commitment, just to point out that this personal choice to filter out things has a certain weight to it because of the consequences it carries, i.e. certain games will not be marketed to the people who choose to do so.

That's fair.
Proton23 Dec 11, 2017
Hi,

I've already fallen for CD PROJEKT RED, which promised a Linux version and never delivered.
Those won't be taken into count, right?

Best regards.
tuxdelux Aug 31, 2018
In hindsight, with the knowledge of Valve's Steam Play, this seems like a very clever marketing ploy. Six months before they release an emulator, that allows buying windows-only games, they were getting people to add windows-only games to their wishlists.
pb Sep 1, 2018
Quoting: tuxdeluxIn hindsight, with the knowledge of Valve's Steam Play, this seems like a very clever marketing ploy. Six months before they release an emulator, that allows buying windows-only games, they were getting people to add windows-only games to their wishlists.

Yeah, too bad that last month I deleted most of the windows-only games I added earlier, bashing myself for cluttering the wishlist with games I can't play. :D
Salvatos Sep 1, 2018
Quoting: tuxdeluxIn hindsight, with the knowledge of Valve's Steam Play, this seems like a very clever marketing ploy. Six months before they release an emulator, that allows buying windows-only games, they were getting people to add windows-only games to their wishlists.
Absolutely, this is one of the first things that came to mind when they announced Steam Play's upgrade. Everything they did was for a reason, and I find it exciting to see them activating a long-term plan that seems to have been well thought out. When you put the Windows game wishlisting, the work on drivers, the continued improvements to SteamOS and the Vulkan development together on a timeline, it shows that they are working intently on a Linux-centric goal, where previously many felt that they were neglecting us after a perceived failure with Steam Machines.

I don't have any hard expectations as to what's coming exactly, but I'm content and optimistic that they're still very much an ally to Linux gaming.
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