Something I have just noticed in the Steam regular client: For some reason the latest update changed my Steam Play (Proton) setting to "Enable Steam Play for all other titles - Unticked" and then I can see count of Linux/SteamOS games as different to Total Games. I decided I'd change it back to "Ticked", but then I realised - I could leave it like this, and on each Windows game I want to play, I can right-click on it, select Properties, and then use the "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool" Tick box to enable Steam Play (Proton) on each individual title instead. Seems a reasonable way to do it.

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Quoting: Kohrias

Quoting: LomkeyHow is Earth Defense Force under Proton? good or bad at this moment?

https://www.protondb.com/app/410320

This is weird. www.protondb.com will not give that game, as an option for me, when I do suitable searches in the search box: I searched for "Earth Defense" and the EDF 4.1 game did not appear in the list of matched titles.

I guess this means that if any game comes up in future that I can't find and it won't match on ProtonDB, then I'll need to resort to using the steam app id 410320 in the url: https://www.protondb.com/app/******

Unfortunately Vermintide II is not looking like a working Proton title :/
https://www.protondb.com/app/552500
(Easy Anti Cheat - tsk)

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If you guys try out EDF or Vermintide II could you perhaps update ProtonDB and let us know here too. I just had a squint at ProtonDB and couldn't find either title. Yes, I'm interested in this Monthly for Cultist Simulator :)

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Unlike Epic store - this is what I like to see - Valve adding value to their Steam platform for consumer benefit.

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Quoting: TobyGornowMaybe the Orange box was the wrong example ( still an exclusive, You could install Half life 1 without Steam ), take Yakuza 0 instead : you cannot buy it physically, in any way, even if you could you'll be kindly invited to connect on Steam. You can buy it on Humble or elsewhere, sure... and activate it on Steam. In any case, you'll end up on Steam. That's why I said it's time that Valve gets a taste of his own medicine, there is a lot of exclusive on Steam that are not Valve's IP.
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That's the publisher's fault for not releasing it anywhere else. That's completely different from what Epic is doing. Other devs release their games on multiple stores.
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Same thing dude, Yakuza is tied to Steam as much as Exodus is tied (temporarily) to Epic store, that's simple exclusivity for me, Valve made us and dev captive for too long, today your a big publisher you have to put your catalog on Steam otherwise you'll sell peanuts.

Here's a few comments and opinions of mine based on the discussion so far. And a bit of disagreement with TobyGornow regarding Yakuza 0.

Epic store running exclusives, presumably via bribes (e.g. contracts beneficial to developers) is detrimental to consumers. This is very similar to Console Exclusivity and various walled-garden stores, e.g. Windows Store, Apple Store. Lots of big businesses behave this way and much of it is very bad for consumers and society at large (looking hard at Amazon).

However, a proportion of consumers are willing to put up with it. Presumably a pretty big proportion, else these big businesses would have to change their strategies to garner customer favour. I'm one of the more difficult customers who isn't happy to just accept the status quo. I don't like Amazon's business practices and I deliberately looked for an alternative source for a product I wanted earlier today, found it, bought it, *and* it was cheaper than Amazon (haha). If only more people did like me, we could turn things around.

On the Console side, I don't own a current-generation console and I don't like Console Exclusives. I also don't like games with micro-transactions and similar technologies, e.g. loot-box gambling, insidiously designed to get customers to part with even more of their hard-earned money. What do I do about it? Well, I don't buy the Console or the Exclusive. I am disciplined in my purchase decisions.

Epic store running exclusives puts me off their store. Sure, it is a typical business practice, but it is not one that I like and it makes me want to avoid them. Hopefully, they will fail with such choices, and consumers will reap the benefits, e.g. have choice of store (but I guess that is unlikely, given how sheep-like most consumers are).

Epic store is not supporting Linux. Well this is even more reason for me and most Linux gamers to not use the store and not give them any of our money.

Getting onto Yakuza 0 and Humble store-front and the fact that you get a Steam key for the game from Humble. This is not the fault of Steam. The developers of Yakuza 0 chose Steam as their preferred online store. Humble is able to provide DRM-Free Downloads, itch.io keys, GOG keys (e.g. Witcher 3), Uplay keys (e.g. Assassin's Creed Odyssey), and Steam keys. The fact that you bought Yakuza 0 from Humble and you got a Steam key - It's because that is the key that the developers wanted you to have. It is not "Steam being Exclusive". - That is the disagreement I have with you on this.

Mentioning the various game key stores: I see itch.io, GOG, Steam, and Humble DRM-Free as being relatively consumer and developer friendly. In each of those stores, they support Linux games, which is good for us, Linux gamers. In some cases, you can choose the store you want to use, because the developer has put the game onto multiple stores. I don't blame the store, I blame the developer if it is only on one (of these stores). Steam store might hold a somewhat monopolistic position, but in my opinion they don't really abuse it.

With the current situation with Metro Exodus - I own the previous two Metro games (native Linux titles on Steam) and I wanted to see Exodus on Linux. The fact that it is going to be an Exclusive on Epic store (bad strike 1), and the fact that it isn't available for Linux (bad strike 2) - Well, I almost certainly won't be getting it. My money will go to more deserving developers and stores for different game titles. Hopefully 4A Games will see the error of their ways.

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Just been watching this youtube video where Mr. Shafer is talking through the start of a brand new game, and quite taken by it. Oh dear, think I'll add to my Wishlist.

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It is a constant amusement to me when I read an article like this, then check my Game Library, and realise "Cool, I actually own the game!"

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Fanatical's new Reaper Bundle has some good stuff in it (e.g. Immortal Redneck, Renowned Explorers, Figment, Payday 2, etc).

Also, I grabbed Indiegala's Hump-Day Bundle mainly for Deep Sixed, but it also has Shadwen, and a couple of other Linux titles.

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Quoting: hatniXFor those who don't have Tyranny and/or Shadow Tactics yet. The highest tier of this bundle is worth it for each of the two games alone. Same for Pillars Of The Earth and This War Of Mine. All in all a fine bundle. :)

Indeed. Very nice. Shame that I already owned those 4 specific titles, eh.

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I grabbed a couple of games recently, which are no longer discounted. One of those was Haque. I needed to search Steam Community forum to find out that one of the game's text files needs to have its capitalisation changed for the Linux release to work properly (doh).

Thinking about the Double Fine bundle, but I have another week to make up my mind. Also thinking about the Aspyr pick-and-mix sale on Fanatical.

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