6 ms·

This is a great effort, but in my opinion, uphill battle. If you have Linux, you are likely a casual gamer, and your best option is to stick to a gaming servic

This is a great effort, but in my opinion, uphill battle. If you have Linux, you are likely a casual gamer, and your best option is to stick to a gaming service like Stadia. And if you are pro, Linux is not an option for you anyways.

glouwbug 6y ago
But if you're Valve, and your windows catalogue of games run on Linux, you can sell cheap consoles to play your catalogue of games
- 48bb-9a7e-dc4f2 6y ago
  If they plan on doing that they should do to hardware what they did to their software. Have a single set of fixed hardware so you only need to test it once for the commercial part of Proton. What they did with Steam Machines was pure madness but maybe they see something I don't. I know that there are multiple runtimes by now but you get the idea.
jorams 6y ago
I don't think your distinction works. There's a very large group of people with relatively good computers (so they don't need something like Stadia) who can't really be considered pro either. I count myself in that group, and Proton has been a godsend. It finally allows me to completely avoid my Windows partition (Windows 7, which isn't supported anymore), while keeping my large Steam library almost entirely functional.
- dsego 6y ago
  For me, one of the bioshock games crashes constantly on win 10 but works flawlessly on ubuntu. Go figure.
imtringued 6y ago
>If you have Linux, you are likely a casual gamer, and your best option is to stick to a gaming service like Stadia. If you're a casual gamer you don't care about high end 3d graphics which completely eliminates the need for Stadia. Stadia has a worse selection of games than even just native Linux and Proton lets you play most Windows games which has an even bigger selection.
- lightgreen 6y ago
  > completely eliminates the need for Stadia Having games working flawlessly, and not having to purchase the hardware, and do long downloads and installs is quite useful, especially for casual gamers. > Stadia has a worse selection of games Give it (or some alternative gaming service) more time. So far Valve is doing good. But in the long term, it is dead end.
offtop5 6y ago
Stadia isn't a great option for anyone. You just need to dual boot unless you want random issues popping up every other day. With Steam OS dead I'm not sure who this is even for. I can't imagine more than a significant of users will only purchase a game with Linux compatibility. Which the Epic store not supporting Linux your increasingly missing out on more and more games if your Linux only . I will say I did have tons of fun in my desktop Linux days. Recently I've found it more a pain in the butt though. I feel like an old man. Windows npm and Python are now good enough I don't feel a need to run Linux locally. WSL for anything that doesn't work right
- deadbunny 6y ago
  Not sure Valve are doing this all for me but I certainly thank them for their efforts. As for games sold by the EGS, they work fine via Proton (baring those with anticheat) and you can even get the EGS working via wine trivially. I can't speak to your experiences with the Linux desktop but it's certainly my platform of choice both professionally and for personal use. Each to their own as they say. I'm very happy that Valve (and all the other contributors) putting all this effort into getting as many games as possible to run on my platform of choice.
jorl17 6y ago
I think possibly one of the goals of Proton is to allow for a gaming streaming service like Stadia without needing to pay the Microsoft tax, or to tweak the Linux kernel in other ways as to increase RoI. Wishful/Crazy thinking?
- babuskov 6y ago
  The goal of Proton is probably to have an alternative ready in case Microsoft decides to go Apple and require 30% payment for everything that runs on their OS. They started to lean that way with UWP and Windows Store and it made Valve work on Linux compatibility since.
therouwboat 6y ago
How do people see linux gaming? All the games I play run just fine on linux, doom eternal atleast 60fps, rocket league 100fps+, MGS V, deus ex, etc. no problem. I cant imagine them being much better on windows.
- babuskov 6y ago
  Preformance was never a problem. Some games worked even better on Wine than native Windows. The thing is that you're never 100% sure it will be 100% compatible. If you have two computers in your home, one Windows, one Linux and you, for example, share your Steam libraries with other gamers in your family, then it's great. If something doesn't work on Linux, you always have Windows around. But, if you only have Linux, then you need to do some research before every purchase.
  - eggsome 6y ago
    I generally don't bother researching beforehand thanks to Steam's excellent return policy.
- qppo 6y ago
  Well Epic killed Linux support for Rocket League awhile ago so it's a bit redundant how it performs
  - kgwxd 6y ago
    They killed native Linux support. It runs perfectly with Proton. Actually, better than it did natively for me.
babuskov 6y ago
> stick to a gaming service like Stadia. And when Google shuts it down in a couple of years, you will lose your entire library you spent money on. You can see by the selection of launch games how Stadia was another Google toy project. Or the fact that the new Chromecast won't have Stadia support until 2021. At least with Steam, you know that the games will remain in your library and you can buy and install Windows and play them in the future if, for any reason, Linux support gets dropped.
- Thaxll 6y ago
  If Steam stops working you don't have games anymore.
  - breakfastduck 6y ago
    Not quite. With Steam you can download the game files. Yes getting them to run without steam is a little trickier, but its not quite the same as stadia. That's a total loss of any form of ownership.
    - Thaxll 6y ago
      You can download the files but it's not your game it's just some gamefiles that most likely won't work without steam / internet. Tomorrow Steam shutdowns you lose every games, period.
      - dx87 6y ago
        No you don't. Devs don't have to use Steam's DRM if they don't want to, so you won't lose every game. Period.
        babuskov 6y ago
        Most games do use DRM. However, you can use Steam client in offline mode as long as you were last logged into your primary account. So, even if Steam shuts down, you can still run the games on your computer. So, you really won't lose any game.
deadbunny 6y ago
That's some odd gatekeeping there. By "pro" do you mean professional? As in makes money playing games? Sure, you're probably right but I'm not sure how !pro == casual.
- lightgreen 6y ago
  You are right. Not professionals, let's say, people who play at least 20 titles per year. People who play all major new games. Or people who play at least 5 hours a week. People who care what the mouse model is. People who really care about screen refresh rate. People who are into gaming.
  - deadbunny 6y ago
    You've just described me, a happy Linux user & gamer. My 1440p 120hz ultrawide works perfectly with my 1080ti (which will be upgraded to a 3080 once there is some stock). Xorg and libinput both support disabling mouse acceleration so no issues there. Thanks to Proton Glorious Eggroll I've been playing Doom Eternal, RdR2, H:ZD and many other non native titles for a lot more than 5 hours a week. I've also got my seperate VR box running on Linux with my Index which has provided hours of fun in HL: Alyx, Boneworks, and other admittedly more casual games like Beat Saber, Superhot, and Pistol Whip. I do eshew all RGB though, maybe that makes me a filthy casual by some arbitrary standard, maybe you could add that to your gatekeeping list?
    - olah_1 6y ago
      > I do eshew all RGB though, maybe that makes me a filthy casual by some arbitrary standard I’d say what makes you a “casual” is that you didn’t list a multiplayer game. If you’re not sweating against other players, then you probably prefer to keep it casual. That’s fine! But if I can’t play Overwatch, the latest Call of Duty, Escape from Tarkov, etc on Linux, then I wouldn’t bother. I think it’s more about multiplayer when talking about casual vs more serious.
      - lasagnaphil 6y ago
rpdillon 6y ago
A curious outcome, considering Stadia servers run Linux!
- mhh__ 6y ago
  This also proves that some game companies clearly have internal Linux builds of their games that they can't/won't actually publish on Linux.

glouwbug 6y ago

But if you're Valve, and your windows catalogue of games run on Linux, you can sell cheap consoles to play your catalogue of games

48bb-9a7e-dc4f2 6y ago
If they plan on doing that they should do to hardware what they did to their software. Have a single set of fixed hardware so you only need to test it once for the commercial part of Proton. What they did with Steam Machines was pure madness but maybe they see something I don't. I know that there are multiple runtimes by now but you get the idea.

jorams 6y ago

I don't think your distinction works. There's a very large group of people with relatively good computers (so they don't need something like Stadia) who can't really be considered pro either. I count myself in that group, and Proton has been a godsend. It finally allows me to completely avoid my Windows partition (Windows 7, which isn't supported anymore), while keeping my large Steam library almost entirely functional.

dsego 6y ago
For me, one of the bioshock games crashes constantly on win 10 but works flawlessly on ubuntu. Go figure.

imtringued 6y ago

>If you have Linux, you are likely a casual gamer, and your best option is to stick to a gaming service like Stadia. If you're a casual gamer you don't care about high end 3d graphics which completely eliminates the need for Stadia. Stadia has a worse selection of games than even just native Linux and Proton lets you play most Windows games which has an even bigger selection.

lightgreen 6y ago
> completely eliminates the need for Stadia Having games working flawlessly, and not having to purchase the hardware, and do long downloads and installs is quite useful, especially for casual gamers. > Stadia has a worse selection of games Give it (or some alternative gaming service) more time. So far Valve is doing good. But in the long term, it is dead end.

offtop5 6y ago

Stadia isn't a great option for anyone. You just need to dual boot unless you want random issues popping up every other day. With Steam OS dead I'm not sure who this is even for. I can't imagine more than a significant of users will only purchase a game with Linux compatibility. Which the Epic store not supporting Linux your increasingly missing out on more and more games if your Linux only . I will say I did have tons of fun in my desktop Linux days. Recently I've found it more a pain in the butt though. I feel like an old man. Windows npm and Python are now good enough I don't feel a need to run Linux locally. WSL for anything that doesn't work right

deadbunny 6y ago
Not sure Valve are doing this all for me but I certainly thank them for their efforts. As for games sold by the EGS, they work fine via Proton (baring those with anticheat) and you can even get the EGS working via wine trivially. I can't speak to your experiences with the Linux desktop but it's certainly my platform of choice both professionally and for personal use. Each to their own as they say. I'm very happy that Valve (and all the other contributors) putting all this effort into getting as many games as possible to run on my platform of choice.

jorl17 6y ago

I think possibly one of the goals of Proton is to allow for a gaming streaming service like Stadia without needing to pay the Microsoft tax, or to tweak the Linux kernel in other ways as to increase RoI. Wishful/Crazy thinking?

babuskov 6y ago
The goal of Proton is probably to have an alternative ready in case Microsoft decides to go Apple and require 30% payment for everything that runs on their OS. They started to lean that way with UWP and Windows Store and it made Valve work on Linux compatibility since.

therouwboat 6y ago

How do people see linux gaming? All the games I play run just fine on linux, doom eternal atleast 60fps, rocket league 100fps+, MGS V, deus ex, etc. no problem. I cant imagine them being much better on windows.

babuskov 6y ago
Preformance was never a problem. Some games worked even better on Wine than native Windows. The thing is that you're never 100% sure it will be 100% compatible. If you have two computers in your home, one Windows, one Linux and you, for example, share your Steam libraries with other gamers in your family, then it's great. If something doesn't work on Linux, you always have Windows around. But, if you only have Linux, then you need to do some research before every purchase.
- eggsome 6y ago
  I generally don't bother researching beforehand thanks to Steam's excellent return policy.
qppo 6y ago
Well Epic killed Linux support for Rocket League awhile ago so it's a bit redundant how it performs
- kgwxd 6y ago
  They killed native Linux support. It runs perfectly with Proton. Actually, better than it did natively for me.

babuskov 6y ago

> stick to a gaming service like Stadia. And when Google shuts it down in a couple of years, you will lose your entire library you spent money on. You can see by the selection of launch games how Stadia was another Google toy project. Or the fact that the new Chromecast won't have Stadia support until 2021. At least with Steam, you know that the games will remain in your library and you can buy and install Windows and play them in the future if, for any reason, Linux support gets dropped.

Thaxll 6y ago
If Steam stops working you don't have games anymore.
- breakfastduck 6y ago
  Not quite. With Steam you can download the game files. Yes getting them to run without steam is a little trickier, but its not quite the same as stadia. That's a total loss of any form of ownership.
  - Thaxll 6y ago
    You can download the files but it's not your game it's just some gamefiles that most likely won't work without steam / internet. Tomorrow Steam shutdowns you lose every games, period.
    - dx87 6y ago
      No you don't. Devs don't have to use Steam's DRM if they don't want to, so you won't lose every game. Period.
      - babuskov 6y ago
        Most games do use DRM. However, you can use Steam client in offline mode as long as you were last logged into your primary account. So, even if Steam shuts down, you can still run the games on your computer. So, you really won't lose any game.

deadbunny 6y ago

That's some odd gatekeeping there. By "pro" do you mean professional? As in makes money playing games? Sure, you're probably right but I'm not sure how !pro == casual.

lightgreen 6y ago
You are right. Not professionals, let's say, people who play at least 20 titles per year. People who play all major new games. Or people who play at least 5 hours a week. People who care what the mouse model is. People who really care about screen refresh rate. People who are into gaming.
- deadbunny 6y ago
  You've just described me, a happy Linux user & gamer. My 1440p 120hz ultrawide works perfectly with my 1080ti (which will be upgraded to a 3080 once there is some stock). Xorg and libinput both support disabling mouse acceleration so no issues there. Thanks to Proton Glorious Eggroll I've been playing Doom Eternal, RdR2, H:ZD and many other non native titles for a lot more than 5 hours a week. I've also got my seperate VR box running on Linux with my Index which has provided hours of fun in HL: Alyx, Boneworks, and other admittedly more casual games like Beat Saber, Superhot, and Pistol Whip. I do eshew all RGB though, maybe that makes me a filthy casual by some arbitrary standard, maybe you could add that to your gatekeeping list?
  - olah_1 6y ago
    > I do eshew all RGB though, maybe that makes me a filthy casual by some arbitrary standard I’d say what makes you a “casual” is that you didn’t list a multiplayer game. If you’re not sweating against other players, then you probably prefer to keep it casual. That’s fine! But if I can’t play Overwatch, the latest Call of Duty, Escape from Tarkov, etc on Linux, then I wouldn’t bother. I think it’s more about multiplayer when talking about casual vs more serious.
    - lasagnaphil 6y ago

rpdillon 6y ago

A curious outcome, considering Stadia servers run Linux!

mhh__ 6y ago
This also proves that some game companies clearly have internal Linux builds of their games that they can't/won't actually publish on Linux.