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Can't see it happen. Desktop Linux has no meaningful user base, with or without MSFT.
by karmasimida 8y ago
Can't see it happen. Desktop Linux has no meaningful user base, with or without MSFT.
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoWell, Steam [1] is probably a good measure of "desktop" as it's usually home users that install on their personal computers? So, by that measure Linux has ¼ of the users of MacOS. The significance of that for you is not my call though. Steam's top seller in 2017 was PUBG at $600 Million, so assuming equal spread of revenue that 0.8% represents $4.8M you're leaving on the table. With less competition on Linux then there's possibly a higher revenue to be gained there for AAA titles? It might be worth risking a bit of dicking around with Proton/WINE to get your game working for a few extra mega-dollars? NetMarketShare.com gives similar ratios for Linux : Mac on desktop, giving Linux 2% of desktop/laptop installs. [1] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey [2] https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-03-23-valves-generates-record-breaking-usd4-3bn-from-sales-revenue-in-2017 https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-03-23-valves-gen... [3] https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share...
- karmasimida 8y ago> assuming equal spread of revenue. But I would assume the cost it is not. With your PUBG example, it was known for bad optimization and vulnerability for hacking from the beginning. The developer could optimize for Windows and benefit 96% or more of their customers, while it is hard to justify do the same for the 0.8% user base while the spending is probably the same. So no, I don't think $4.8M is easy money. And for smaller, even moderate successful titles, Linux version makes even less sense.