Hey, thanks for the info. It is worrying if they're seeing a fall.

Do you have a public source where they said this that I can see?

I do indeed. It was a public chat on Twitter after I tweeted them. Here's the link.

Check out @JDtheHutt’s Tweet: [link](https://twitter.com/JDtheHutt/status/963154902015909888?ref_src=twcamp%5Eshare%7Ctwsrc%5Eandroid%7Ctwgr%5Edefault%7Ctwcon%5E7090%7Ctwterm%5E0)

The specific comment was:

"I can try to comment in a future episode. Sadly Linux is less than a percent of the sales and keeps dwindling. SteamOS didn't turn out to be what we all hoped. The Linux community needs to grow or spend more to stay viable."

Damn that's a shame, might make a post to highlight it.

The podcast is a really interesting and open discussion into how the industry works and why they have made the decisions they have. They also talk about titles they either wanted to acquire or had pitched to them but turned down. They mostly seemed to be Linux supported too. Included Kerbal Space Programme, Don't Starve, Rocket League and others.

Damn. I really loved HoI 4 and it hurts to see such a statement.

Well, let's just remember this is only the opinion (that we've seen) of one person so far. Also, before diving into the below, to be clear I'm a big fan of them :)

After chatting with Samsai he did make a good point. Most of their games are a niche, so they don't actually sell like hot cakes anyway. Now you have to add in the fact that their niche games are selling to Linux (another niche).

Look at Crusader Kings II that released in 2012 with 1.6 million owners on Steam.
Europa Universalis IV released in 2013 with 1.4 million owners on Steam.
Now look at Stellaris that released in 2016 and it has 1.5 million owners on Steam.

They might look like big numbers, but then Stardew Valley has 3.5 million owners since release, even Oxygen Not Included that's in Early Access is catching up to their sales numbers at over 600K sales and it's not even fully released.

Rough numbers, but it's worth keeping in mind that they can't expect to find a huge audience with a niche set of games on a niche platform.

I'm sure they know this and I'm sure they won't suddenly make a rash decision like pulling Linux support away.

If you look at the wording that particular person used, they were talking percentages too. So, we actually have no idea if they're just looking at a percentage going down a bit, say more people buying on Windows over time, pushing the Linux % down, or if the actual numbers of Linux users buying their games is declining. They're two very different things.

He is the Head of their Acquisition and Business Development department though, so he would be the one who knows what the figures really are and whether they are worth it. I did ask whether it was just Steam purchase data, which is often skewed by people swapping platforms, but he clarified that they have access to other data to show user activity. Their games do have startup launchers and a lot of online integration so I assume they get a lot of data chatter in the background about the OS being used.

You're right on the percentage query. That would be a good followup question. I'll see if I can find out more, unless you're already doing that?

Would be interesting to see percentages of Linux users for other niche but at the same time rather high profile games like Pillars of Eternity or Tyranny which were developed by Obsidian, but published by Paradox.

I'm not surprised by the statement at all honestly, I myself was suspecting that Linux gaming marketshare is dropping due to Feral releasing fewer and fewer games year by year. It is a shame but there's not much we can do, we would need Valve and third party developers take some action because Windows is snowballing very fast.

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: MaCroX95I myself was suspecting that Linux gaming marketshare is dropping due to Feral releasing fewer and fewer games year by year.

Here are the games released by Feral Interactive in 2017.

F1 2017
Dawn of War III
DiRT Rally
HITMAN

F1 2017 and Dawn of War III were both released on Linux in less than 6 months after they were released on Windows.

Since last october there were no games announced, it is only now (February 2018) that Feral has announced another port and it's not even close to being released yet. My prediction is that Feral will only do 2, at most 3 ports for Linux this year.

Quoting: MaCroX95

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: MaCroX95I myself was suspecting that Linux gaming marketshare is dropping due to Feral releasing fewer and fewer games year by year.

Here are the games released by Feral Interactive in 2017.

F1 2017
Dawn of War III
DiRT Rally
HITMAN

F1 2017 and Dawn of War III were both released on Linux in less than 6 months after they were released on Windows.

Since last october there were no games announced, it is only now (February 2018) that Feral has announced another port and it's not even close to being released yet. My prediction is that Feral will only do 2, at most 3 ports for Linux this year.

To be clear, Rise might release next month for all we know, Feral said Spring which starts on 20th March in the UK (they're a UK studio).

They do also have another teaser up, let's just wait and see what happens. I reckon they will do at least 5 games this year, if not more for Linux.

Quoting: liamdawe

Quoting: MaCroX95

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: MaCroX95I myself was suspecting that Linux gaming marketshare is dropping due to Feral releasing fewer and fewer games year by year.

Here are the games released by Feral Interactive in 2017.

F1 2017
Dawn of War III
DiRT Rally
HITMAN

F1 2017 and Dawn of War III were both released on Linux in less than 6 months after they were released on Windows.

Since last october there were no games announced, it is only now (February 2018) that Feral has announced another port and it's not even close to being released yet. My prediction is that Feral will only do 2, at most 3 ports for Linux this year.

To be clear, Rise might release next month for all we know, Feral said Spring which starts on 20th March in the UK (they're a UK studio).

They do also have another teaser up, let's just wait and see what happens. I reckon they will do at least 5 games this year, if not more for Linux.

Liam let's hope this is true :D I will not stop using Linux no matter what happens, but if I'm less optimistic it hurts less when things don't go as fast as we expect them to :D

Since it's bugging me, that same business guy at the paradox publisher recently [said this to another developer](https://twitter.com/ShamsJorjani/status/966077216978296833):

Mac+Linux just 3%? Yikes! Sounds like you should stop supporting them immediately and put effort on 97% of your community instead.

Now, on the flipside of this is another guy at Paradox [who said this](https://twitter.com/RikardAslund/status/966203316542820352):

75%?!?! Sorry but either you did a terrible job with the build or you are not specific enough with what you support. You should never support "Linux", you support a specific distro with a specific version, proprietary gfx driver version and then you QA that one.

^ Seems he gets it.

Quote of the day:

And 75% of negative steam reviews saying why isn't there a Linux / Mac version ([source](https://twitter.com/SuperRockGames/status/966085878065098752))

Everybody knows Linux users buy Windows exclusive games just to put negative review on Steam (and as far as I know if you refund a game your review will disappear)! ^_^

Quoting: riusmaQuote of the day:

And 75% of negative steam reviews saying why isn't there a Linux / Mac version ([source](https://twitter.com/SuperRockGames/status/966085878065098752))

Everybody knows Linux users buy Windows exclusive games just to put negative review on Steam (and as far as I know if you refund a game your review will disappear)! ^_^

Oh jeez, I've asked that one for some evidence. Sounds like complete rubbish to me.

On top of that, Pixel Soccer is an early access game on Steam (Windows / Mac), with no user review currently, and with two (friendly) threads in its community hubs where dev' say the game will / may come to Linux... :P

I don't want to sound heartless or anything, but partially it's their own fault. In a way they are limiting their profits by locking their games on Steam, unfortunately that includes Singleplayer games too. For all I know, there's a good amount of Linux users on GOG which would increase their profit rate, but it seems Paradox didn't even try in the first place.

I understand there's no Galaxy on Linux for GOG, but that doesn't mean nobody is releasing Linux games there.

I checked a few Paradox games:

Stellaris has this: "Special multiplayer requirements: Internet Connection or LAN for multiplayer" Yay LAN!.....but it's still on Steam only.

Surviving Mars: Singleplayer only, the game looks bloody amazing. Nope, still Steam only. This one releases 15th March so there may be any hope yet.

Cities - Skyline: Another Singleplayer, very popular game. Locked to Steam since release (released March 2015).

They're limiting their profits and they're not doing anything about it.

Quoting: Avehicle7887They're limiting their profits and they're not doing anything about it.

In my opinion it is the other way around. A lot of Linux user are excluding studios like Paradox that don't follow their ideology and thus making a minor market even smaller and even less attractive. Why should they invest and establish support for a second distribution platform (that is much less suited for their DLC model) for something like 0.2% more users? I highly doubt that this would be financially feasible.
Currently Linux needs Paradox more than Paradox needs Linux.

Quoting: Avehicle7887I don't want to sound heartless or anything, but partially it's their own fault. In a way they are limiting their profits by locking their games on Steam, unfortunately that includes Singleplayer games too. For all I know, there's a good amount of Linux users on GOG which would increase their profit rate, but it seems Paradox didn't even try in the first place.

I also want to echo what jens mentioned, we're very lucky that a publisher like Paradox has chosen to release so many native Linux games. They took a risk that many other gaming studios have chosen to avoid. I think if we want Linux to be considered as a viable gaming platform we need to support studios like Paradox, even if the situation isn't ideal. Being rigid about the distribution platform at this point will not be productive, and it confirms the suspicions that many gaming studios already have about Linux users - that they are ideologically rigid. In their minds, there will always be a reason for Linux users not to buy a particular title. Perhaps the game uses a certain video / audio codec that is not open, perhaps Linux user's will be ideologically opposed to DLC and will refuse to buy the game on those grounds. The list goes on.

At the end of the day, if we want Linux to have a thriving gaming ecosystem, I believe we need to be more flexible and we certainly, without question need to support the few companies that are releasing games on Linux!

CDPR was rumoured to have been actively working on the Witcher 3 for Linux, but because the community backlash to the Witcher 2 port was so toxic they decided it wasn't worth it. Frankly I don't blame them.

The Blizzard CEO responded to a petition to bring their titles to Linux (which is really a wonderful step in the right direction) and how does the community respond, more toxicity, more complaints, more judgements.

To be clear, there are plenty of great, reasonable people that use Linux, but I think the reputation of the Linux community still has a taint associated with it that leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many game developers. Really unfortunate, as most of the negativity comes from a very vocal minority of folks.

I really dislike DRM, but if the alternative is Paradox dropping my favorite OS, then I'll take it. In addition, Valve has really helped Linux gaming as a whole, so I don't many reservations using Steam.

but because the community backlash to the Witcher 2 port was so toxic

because it was horrible in quality. Or you expect me to order food, get something rotten and then not complain about this? Similar hate on bad quality is in every other platform and to almost every other type of merchandise with the exception of Apple. They somehow can afford to release a shitty product and be loved for it in their community.

and how does the community respond, more toxicity, more complaints, more judgements.

Single guy did that. A single guy and he was immediately hated by almost everyone in Linux community.