Quoting: PlayingOnLinuxphone

Quoting: CatKillerThe way I interpret the data is something like this:

You forgot 2025, the year of Linux and Proton.

Proton released in 2018. I haven't forgotten.

Nothing has fundamentally changed about Linux gaming since then - there have been incremental improvements, sure.

But the perception of Linux gaming sure has changed a ton with the coverage of Valve's high-profile Linux gaming demonstration device. So people are more willing to try it. Hence the growth.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Charging LED now changes color when charge limit is reached, rather than only at 100%

That's good. It's seemed like a massive oversight since they rolled out the charge limit feature.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Purple Library GuyOh, agreed. I don't mean to say the Deck hasn't had a huge impact. It's been an amazing catalyst. And even now, I notice game developers are often doing this or that that benefits Linux use because they're targeting the Deck, rather than desktop Linux. It looms large in people's imaginations.
Nonetheless, it's interesting to notice that the recent end of the 5-month-rolling shows desktop Linux at three times the size of Deck, and rising fast where Deck is fairly static.

For sure. The way I interpret the data is something like this:

Up to 2021, Linux gaming is basically a punchline for people that had never tried it.

July 2021, the Deck is revealed and everyone that tries it really likes it - especially the software. Lots of coverage.
"Isn't Linux gaming just a punchline?"
"Nuh uh."
Little bump.

2022, the Deck is released and the Linux total goes up by how fast Valve can make units. The now-acknowledged benefits of Linux gaming are still seen as just a Deck thing - "maybe when SteamOS is released for desktop PCs I'll consider switching." Desktop Linux stays pretty flat.

2023, the initial rush of purchases is over and Windows-based competitor devices start to be released. Deck growth slows down. Now people can directly compare the Linux experience with the Windows experience on the class of hardware that's still newsworthy. Linux smashes it. Desktop Linux starts to grow. "I guess Linux really is better than Windows."

2024 and the conversation has completely turned around for those touched by gaming-adjacent coverage. Linux is seen as the desirable option, and people consider the balance between the pain of switching and the pain of using Windows (the latter of which is widely viewed as considerable because of Microsoft choices). Desktop Linux usage explodes. Game devs and publishers appreciate the mainstream sentiment about the Deck and put in special effort even though the Deck is at the same "punchline" levels of usage as desktop Linux used to be. Something not being allowed to work on Linux now needs to be justified rather than being accepted as the natural order of things.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Purple Library GuyThanks for the graph. Man, the serious growth is actually desktop Linux not Deck, eh?
(side note: Looks like the Chinese don't use Mac a whole lot, either)

There's been such a difference in the conversation about Linux gaming from the gaming press, YouTubers, and general tech people since Valve released their high-profile Linux gaming demonstration device. Even if you've never held a Deck in your hands you know that Linux gaming is awesome - something that we've known for ages, but the wider population needed to be shown.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Now that I'm back near my computer, here's the usual graph breaking down the proportions between Deck and desktop Linux. Now with a five-month moving average to smooth out some of the noise.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: KoopaMy bet is most studios will stick with the less favorable option for gamers regarding price.

The rational choice is to choose the price that maximises profit in each region. Setting the price too high reduces the number of units sold, and so reduces profit.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: vic-bayI am looking at hwsurvey stats again, and considering MacOS also got its share almost doubled, it is not error in counting linux share, but most likely the surveyed set of machines just happend to have lower share of windows.

No, it's that last month's results were broken by the well-known China overcount. Looking at any month's delta is entirely pointless. The useful thing to do is to look at the longer term trends, which Liam has helpfully documented.

Quoting: vic-bayChina has high Windows share, for some reasons.

Decades of intense directed effort at the highest levels from Microsoft.

Quoting: vic-bayIs there any legal issue with automatic data gathering?

Yes. And it's icky. Requesting consent to collect and publish a user's details at the point you do so is the only sane approach.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: Phlebiac

recent shift in the VR market

Anyone know what this refers to? VR didn't take off like they hoped (just like the last few attempts)? Or something else?

The VR market is 80% Facebook, and Facebook have recently reorientated away from VR gaming - closing studios and calling off hardware partnerships, and making their VR ecosystem thing a phone app instead.

It would be quite a good time for Valve to swoop in with a cheap device that can play all those games without any retooling from game devs, but RAM crisis.

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Quoting: KrejsyLainenHow is this a thing? Almost every gamedeveloper nowadays are using unreal engine + they have the epic store, how are they this impacted by just Fortnite losing players?

"When Fortnite launched in 2017, Epic was a 500-person company—known primarily for producing the Gears of War franchise and creating the industry-leading game development software, Unreal Engine. It was booking about $100 million per year in revenue. A year later, Epic made a staggering $5.6 billion in revenue. Ninety-seven percent of it was from Fortnite."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2023/11/10/epic-games-unreal-engine-fortnite-game-developers-sypherpk/ [External Link]

View this comment - View article - View full comments

Finally! They had controller support in the Switch version 3 years ago, but were dragging their feet on having the same in their PC version.

View this comment - View article - View full comments