Quoting: CorbenMore than Mac... impressive!

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/08/linux-overtakes-macos-users-on-steam-thanks-to-steam-deck/

Linux has been higher than Mac since.

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Quoting: slaapliedjeHa, yeah, they call it the 'Game porting toolkit' and I put that in quotes because it's not really porting the game, but is more like how Wine works... literally being based on Crossover/Wine. Though I'm assuming it mixes Rosetta in there for some of the CPU translation layer. I'm not sure how much of that is the open source stuff from Wine, or how much is just Apple code though...

It also can't be used for any actual released games; it's for internal demonstration purposes only.

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It is, of course, entirely expected that Sony would want to leverage their own infrastructure, and to funnel PC gamers into PlayStation gamers.

With their network working on the Deck - make sure it works, and make sure it keeps working - they get the virtuous cycle marketing boost that's hugely more significant than just the ~5 million units sold. The two biggest questions the games media have with every high profile PC release are "is it coming to Steam?" and "will it work on the Steam Deck?" Boosting non-Microsoft gaming should be an easy mood for Sony, and people gushing over how talented Sony's devs are is no bad thing.

Without it working on the Deck the coverage is only about how terrible PSN is, and how much everyone hates it, as demonstrated by EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar and Epic. Except actually slightly worse, because they're years late behind a half-dozen others, and the things people are already aware of with PSN are the bad download speeds, the pretty rubbish store interface, and the massive data breach that took the network down for months and meant Sony had to fork out to millions of people.

"Not actually worse than EA & Ubisoft" is an achievable goal for Sony, but it would be pretty sad if that were all they could muster. There are some pretty straightforward things Sony can do to better achieve their objectives.

Internet requirement for single-player is bullshit. Cut that out. Cut that right out.

PSN linking can be optional. When the player links their Steam account to their PSN account - boom! - populate their achievements list on each with achievements earned in the other. Steam has adequate means to uniquely identify a Steam user in the meantime for cross-platform play.

Eat the cost of double-dipping DLC. I haven't yet worked out whether it makes sense to eat the cost of all double-dipping, but single-digit percentages buy DLC at all - you don't want those purchases locking people out of your platform, so if people buy DLC on Steam they also get the DLC on PlayStation, and vice versa. For the base game, something like "buy the game on Steam, with a linked account, get it half price on PlayStation" might end up making sense. Possibly the other way, too. Should they ever get round to having a PSN PC store, having "buy on PSN anywhere, have it apply to PSN anywhere" should be a no-brainer. Also ensure that cross-platform saves work both ways. If you do persuade someone to switch from PC to PlayStation, they've already got an account, they've already got a library, with their saves, and they've already got some bragging rights on their profile - those are the kinds of thing that can keep them active on your platform.

Doing these things might not be enough for Sony to succeed, but it would definitely be better for them than not doing those things. I hope they choose wisely.

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Quoting: Purple Library GuyI have this feeling that there has been a shift over the years when it comes to this stuff. Some time ago, when someone cancelled their promise of a version of the game for an OS, they would just cancel the Linux version but they'd usually still do the Mac version. These days, they cancel Linux and MacOS if they're going to cancel at all. I'm not sure that's good, misery loves company maybe? but it's different.

It's not really good, no. In the old days, avoiding platform-specific lock-in and having an OpenGL render path got you Linux and Mac. Ditching Linux but keeping Mac was a specific "we love those turtle necks, but fuck those weirdy-beardy Linux folks." Now, Mac work doesn't help Linux work at all - if you can avoid single-platform stuff and use Vulkan for both Windows and Linux you still need an entirely separate render path for Mac. And Mac has a smaller share than Linux. Making a Mac build but not a Linux build (which people still do) is quite misguided. So we get "fuck those weirdy-beardy Linux folks, and fuck those turtle necks: we're perfectly comfortable with Microsoft having a monopoly on the platform we can be bothered with" instead. Macs using Vulkan and not destroying their share of the gaming market would have been much better for us.

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Quoting: SilverCode

I can organize a refund for you out of pocket.

Out of pocket? I had to check the definition of this to make sure it meant what I thought it meant, and it does - "having lost money in a transaction"

It doesn't mean that they've lost money, it means they're paying the money themselves (rather than accounting for it specifically from Kickstarter funds). Literally taking the money out of their own pocket to pay for it.

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It's been on my wishlist for a while, but with the ability to comfortably power through games on the Deck my scope for games that require a big time commitment of being at the desktop has been very much reduced. I've still got some, but new ones will have to wait till I've got through the ones I've already got.

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In case anyone else is also considering it for a younger audience, according to the discussion pages there is an option to disable the blood.

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Quoting: Mountain ManI can remember the early days when there was only a handful of native Linux games in Steam. How far we've come.

The only thing that bothers me is that Linux gaming is essentially synonymous with Steam. I was really hoping that other developers would be inspired by Valve to support Linux directly, but it has been left to Valve to do all the heavy lifting, and as much as I appreciate what they have done for Linux gaming, it makes me nervous having all the eggs in one basket, as the saying goes.

Especially because the big motivation for Valve to put resources into Linux - Microsoft has the power to lock games distribution into their own store - affects all the others just as much as it does Valve. Sony, EA, Ubisoft, Rockstar, Epic all want to avoid being beholden to Valve, but they won't avoid being under Microsoft's thumb.

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Also Shadowrun Dragonfall should have the same Playable rating (KB/M controls, no automatic keyboard, and small text; fair enough) as the other two Shadowrun games. They're all similarly great on the Deck.

And the achievements in Kona don't work on the Deck despite the green tick, so that's not "all game functionality."

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Do you have any issues with the Steam Deck Verified rating on something? Let me know in the comments.

I platinumed Horizon Zero Dawn on the Deck, and it played well and looked amazing on the OLED, but it hung on exit every single time. It definitely detracted from it being a "seamless, comfortable experience." Valve have provided a force-close function, but it would be better if games with the green tick didn't need to use it.

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