Confused on Steam Play and Proton? Be sure to check out our guide.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Tower Unite [Steam], a 'community-based virtual world party game' had a Linux version that was left in Beta since 2016 and eventually it broke. They've now removed it in favour of people using Valve's Steam Play.

Back in September, a user asked the developer PixelTail Games to actually remove the Linux version. They didn't do it then, mentioning the fact that they would have to delete the Linux content since you can't pick between Steam Play and a Linux version but things have changed.

In a post on their official forum, they stated that a few months ago they made some changes to their engine, which broke the Linux beta. For them Linux "wasn’t the highest of priority" and so it sat there doing nothing.

In a follow up post, they directly blamed Epic Games stating that "Unfortunately Epic doesn’t really support Linux all that well, as it was their change to the engine that broke it in the first place."—ouch.

I find it interesting, as Steam Play obviously makes it a lot easier for developers to drop support entirely for our small platform. However, in this case they were very clear even from the start of the Linux beta back in 2016, that Linux simply wasn't a priority and it seems it never became one.

What are your thoughts?

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
8 Likes
About the author -
author picture
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.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
27 comments
Page: 1/3»
  Go to:

Brisse Jan 8, 2019
Epic loves to market their engine as multi-platform and Linux-compatible, but it really is true that they don't care about Linux and treat it as a second class citizen. Sad. :'(
pb Jan 8, 2019
This sort of confirms my previous suspicions about Epic and Unreal. I thought that they neglected Linux support in Unreal Engine as soon as they came up with the idea of competing with Steam Store. Their reasoning being probably: by supporting Linux, we make it easier for Valve to launch the new iteration of Steam Machines, which would make it harder for us to compete, so let's silently abandon it. Same with Fortnite, releasing it for Linux would make it easily installable on Steam Machines.
NeoTheFox Jan 8, 2019
To be honest Proton performs so much better than the beta ever did. I've played it for 64 hours with the beta, I know what I'm talking about.
qptain Nemo Jan 8, 2019
I bought it when it supported Linux, wouldn't have if it didn't or I knew it'll stop, so I'm requesting a refund. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's a huge shame though, it was quite fun when it worked.


Last edited by qptain Nemo on 8 January 2019 at 1:42 pm UTC
x_wing Jan 8, 2019
Epic, Fuck You!


Last edited by x_wing on 8 January 2019 at 1:53 pm UTC
theghost Jan 8, 2019
It's quite clear from the beginning that Epic never really cared for Linux support.
They are not against it, if the work is done free but they don't invest into it either.
Just look at the fixes yaakuro did:

https://www.patreon.com/ue4linux

So many things which don't work or aren't ported to Linux.
Liam Dawe Jan 8, 2019
Quoting: GuestWhile I don't fully trust a dev pointing fingers elsewhere without proof, there's been enough evidence of late that this is very likely on Epic. Epic started out ok with proper cross-platform engine support, but it's definitely dropped off since.

I still really don't like the idea of devs relying on Valve's branch of Wine so much, but at the same time it's not like some are left with many realistic options.

Basically the whole situation sucks big time.
Every single developer I speak to using Unreal Engine say the same thing, the Linux support has been poor and they've had to spend a lot of time working around engine issues. Too many say this, to blame the game devs. I don't like playing the blame game but I think by now it's clear there are certain issues in Unreal Engine.
qptain Nemo Jan 8, 2019
My refund request has been denied based on the playtime (20 hours).
0aTT Jan 8, 2019
It's a good decision, isn't it? Epic has simply not been on the right track since Tencent take it over. And they have their own definition of currently.

"Currently, there is no possibility to access the launcher on Linux systems."

https://wiki.unrealengine.com/index.php?title=Linux_Support

I visit the site once a year to laugh.
NeoTheFox Jan 8, 2019
Quoting: qptain NemoMy refund request has been denied based on the playtime (20 hours).

Well sure thing it was denied, 20 hours is more than enough for what the game costs anyway, and don't shy away from Proton, it works really well. I've been getting games left and right for it, it's amazing. I mean, I am 100% with the developer here - if they can't fix the engine to have good performance on Linux and Proton does it better anyway - why should you care how "native" is it?
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.