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Linux gaming hardly exists because Linux Desktop use hardly exists because Linux hardware support is poor. There will always be an ever growing catalog of class

Linux gaming hardly exists because Linux Desktop use hardly exists because Linux hardware support is poor. There will always be an ever growing catalog of classic PC games that will run on Linux. However, you will NEVER see a healthy amount of triple A title games released on Linux the same way they do in Xbox and Windows. This along with lack of performance due to said above hardware support are the two biggest factors. According to W3 schools, 6.1% of computers are running Linux https://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp https://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_os.asp. What this page lacks is any fraction of that 6.1% that make up actual desktop users, let alone gamers. Graphics cards manufacturers and gaming companies have little benefit in supporting Linux. The only benefit is desperately raking the rewards of being that novelty game that runs on Linux, which likely has a Windows counterpart anyway. Even though I don't come off this way, I wish every program flawlessly ran on Linux. I wish this wasn't even something to think about, but this is where we're at. So if you're a serious gamer and want your hardware to perform to its fullest then run Windows.

yellowapple 8y ago
Linux performance ain't significantly worse than Windows (in fact, it's usually significantly better on pretty much every metric besides maybe GPU performance, and even that's dependent on the GPU vendor and driver/kernel version). Meanwhile, it's been years since I've had Linux hardware compatibility issues on desktop PCs (laptops are another story, though recent Linuxen have for the most part fixed that, too). Maybe that's just because I've been conditioned to shop specifically for hardware that looks reasonably-Linux-compatible (and tend to aim for business/enterprise-grade hardware when possible), but lately I've found that pretty much everything Just Works™ (with the sole exception of printers; things are better, but still not quite at the "my grandpa can buy a random one from Best Buy and it'll work out-of-the-box" level I'd hope for). The reason why Linux adoption is still low has squarely to do with the usual chicken-and-egg problem of there being a lack of quality software for it. The other reasons haven't been significantly relevant to most users for years now.
- mastrsushi 8y ago
  https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=windows-linux-pascal&num=7 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=windows-... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=win10-ubuntu-gpufresh&num=5 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=win10-ub...
  - sli 8y ago
    > pretty much every metric besides maybe GPU performance Additionally, neither of those links contain any data whatsoever. They're simply stating that their claim is true, then asking for money.
- beatgammit 8y ago
  I feel like Steam will try a push with SteamOS once game support is good enough to get a lot of popular titles working through SteamPlay. Number of titles is the primary reason IMO that it hasn't caught on, and once that's fixed, I think plenty of people will replace their janky TV setups with it. A lot of people like the simplicity of a console, and that's one area where Steam is weak. Once SteamOS gets traction, I can see a lot of vendors choosing to support, which will significantly help the situation on Linux. Also, I've been gaming exclusively on Linux for a year or so, and it's pretty reasonable. I can't play every game I want, but there are a lot of titles to choose from with either native Linux support or good support with SteamPlay/wine.

yellowapple 8y ago

Linux performance ain't significantly worse than Windows (in fact, it's usually significantly better on pretty much every metric besides maybe GPU performance, and even that's dependent on the GPU vendor and driver/kernel version). Meanwhile, it's been years since I've had Linux hardware compatibility issues on desktop PCs (laptops are another story, though recent Linuxen have for the most part fixed that, too). Maybe that's just because I've been conditioned to shop specifically for hardware that looks reasonably-Linux-compatible (and tend to aim for business/enterprise-grade hardware when possible), but lately I've found that pretty much everything Just Works™ (with the sole exception of printers; things are better, but still not quite at the "my grandpa can buy a random one from Best Buy and it'll work out-of-the-box" level I'd hope for). The reason why Linux adoption is still low has squarely to do with the usual chicken-and-egg problem of there being a lack of quality software for it. The other reasons haven't been significantly relevant to most users for years now.

mastrsushi 8y ago
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=windows-linux-pascal&num=7 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=windows-... https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=win10-ubuntu-gpufresh&num=5 https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=win10-ub...
- sli 8y ago
  > pretty much every metric besides maybe GPU performance Additionally, neither of those links contain any data whatsoever. They're simply stating that their claim is true, then asking for money.
beatgammit 8y ago
I feel like Steam will try a push with SteamOS once game support is good enough to get a lot of popular titles working through SteamPlay. Number of titles is the primary reason IMO that it hasn't caught on, and once that's fixed, I think plenty of people will replace their janky TV setups with it. A lot of people like the simplicity of a console, and that's one area where Steam is weak. Once SteamOS gets traction, I can see a lot of vendors choosing to support, which will significantly help the situation on Linux. Also, I've been gaming exclusively on Linux for a year or so, and it's pretty reasonable. I can't play every game I want, but there are a lot of titles to choose from with either native Linux support or good support with SteamPlay/wine.