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Always nice to hear progress on this front. It does feel like ages ago that the Windows 8 Marketplace debacle caused Valve to explore Linux gaming more seriousl

Always nice to hear progress on this front. It does feel like ages ago that the Windows 8 Marketplace debacle caused Valve to explore Linux gaming more seriously. I am curious if game studios share Valve's desire for a free and open Desktop Gaming OS. I understand Valve is concerned about M$ demanding a 30% cut or locking them out of the walled garden, but game developers still just see Linux gaming as a curiosity. Proton may improve the market share, but it also kills any incentive to develop a Linux-native version.

zanny 8y ago
SteamOS isn't a free and open gaming OS. It would take a tremendous amount of design effort and integration to make a seamless interface for multiple stores to intermix. Remember Valve is in this to protect its 30% cut of sales. Its why companies with their own stores that want to rent seek on game sales have shown zero interest in supporting Linux - EA, Activision, Ubisoft, etc all have their own stores they want to push. GOG took forever to adopt Linux and even still have kept it a second class citizen by not releasing Galaxy on it. Publishers release on Steam for Windows because they have to, not because they want to. To them, their "opponent" isn't Microsoft locking down the platform in the future but Valve controlling a lions share of that rent seeking profit from game sales today. We can rant about how they should just distribute flatpaks of their games and use that as the runtime but at this point Valve has "claimed" the Linux space where widespread hardware adoption would probably come with SteamOS where they can never ship a game from their own store.