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And yet linux usage keep dropping https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey Valve strategy is the wrong one Here is how

And yet linux usage keep dropping https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey Valve strategy is the wrong one Here is how i would have done it: - 30% steam tax if you only target 1 OS - 25% steam tax if you target 2 OS - 20% steam tax if you target 3 OS That way developers would be more likely to offer NATIVE build of them game! (let's not forget you can easily target linux with Unity engine, which is, i'm pretty use, the most used engine on steam) Proton perfectly showcase what is wrong with linux, hacks on hacks on hacks on workarounds, as a gamer I DONT WANT TO DEAL WITH THAT SH!T And as a dev I DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH RANDOM LINUX WINE SUPPORT TICKETS For "Linux" to attract gamers, also need a better Desktop Environment, and better software ecosystem, it's not there yet.. sadly, and linux people can come at me whenever they want, it's the reality, and it's the reason why i'm using macOS -- still a pain to take screenshot -- still a pain to play games in fullscreen mode -- still a pain to have a correct mouse movement behavior -- still a pain to install software -- still a pain to install my hardware driver -- where all the donations go?

dmos62 6y ago
Your non-game-related Linux observations make me feel like we're living in different worlds. I haven't really tried playing games on Linux (I like games that require a Windows anti-cheat, so I'm dualbooting Win10), except Factorio and that was awesome. I'm also a power-user, I guess. Software, hardware driver installation is so comfortable on Linux. Everything is a few commands away. Screenshots? I've never had trouble there. You wrote Desktop Environment (capitalized). Linux isn't a Prepackaged End Product. You can get something like that from the popular distributions. I find Ubuntu plug and play, for example. That said, I usually assemble my own desktop environment, which is great for me, though I realise not everyone wants to put in the effort.
- Shadonototro 6y ago
  after all it's only just a personal experience, and it may vary, but still, i believe "defaults" is what push me away.. and it is even more sad because valve is basically alone on the PC market, they could do way more, and they should do way more because... : it is even more more sad because if that job started many years ago, we'd have way more native linux game, and an overwall better eco system for linux and what is EVEN MORE sad is now they'll need to rely on Microsoft if they ever want to do cloud gaming, because they'll need to pay for a shit ton of Microsoft server licences if it was vulkan + linux, things would have been way easier for valve, wich is, i'm pretty sure, the reason why we still haven't heard of an official "steam cloud gaming solution" yet.. very very sad indeed i am all in for Linux, but efforts shouldn't be all in into windows emulation layers, problem is elsewhere!
- hojjat12000 6y ago
  Maybe this person saw the recent post on HN about Flameshot (and supporting Wayland) and thought "Oh... you can't even take a screenshot on Linux". I think the best distro for gaming is Pop_OS!. They have a pretty reliable set of software and they also have an NVIDIA version of the distro which is great for newbies. It also comes with Flathub (instead of Snap) by default so latest version of most of the softwares that newbies will use are available (such as Spotify, Slack... and everything else Electron).
TechSupportJosh 6y ago
I can imagine if they implemented something like this, you'd end up with a lot of games shipping untested Linux builds just to get reduced tax. It'd be awesome if Valve could reward those who develop for Linux and properly support it, but it seems unlikely. At least Proton is improving regularly and is making it better in one way at least.
- Shadonototro 6y ago
  Good point, but still i want to believe in developers, after all if things doesn't work, they can be sanctioned, just like they get sanctioned already if they release buggy games (they get removed from the store)
ubercow13 6y ago
Proton is already better than most native ports. I play at least half of the games in my library that do have native ports using Proton anyway, because either the native port simply doesn't work, it is less performant (common even for developers who used cross platform engines like Unity) or more buggy, or the Windows version has had content updates released that were never included in the Linux port. Proton is also essential for all of the games that already exist and that will never be ported to Linux. Any incentive to produce native ports for future games is not a replacement because (a) not every developer will take the bait, and (b) people will always still want to play old games. Linux purists will always seem to argue against Proton on some philosophical ground but the idea that the ecosystem was in a better place before it just seems absurd. You can now quite often play your whole Steam library on Linux, pretty seamlessly. There is just no comparison to the situation a few years ago. As a Linux gamer, what I want is to play all the games that I want to play. What I do not want is to waste my time with platform politics. 'Dealing with' the 'hacks on hacks' is already largely irrelevant, because mostly Proton just works.

dmos62 6y ago

Your non-game-related Linux observations make me feel like we're living in different worlds. I haven't really tried playing games on Linux (I like games that require a Windows anti-cheat, so I'm dualbooting Win10), except Factorio and that was awesome. I'm also a power-user, I guess. Software, hardware driver installation is so comfortable on Linux. Everything is a few commands away. Screenshots? I've never had trouble there. You wrote Desktop Environment (capitalized). Linux isn't a Prepackaged End Product. You can get something like that from the popular distributions. I find Ubuntu plug and play, for example. That said, I usually assemble my own desktop environment, which is great for me, though I realise not everyone wants to put in the effort.

Shadonototro 6y ago
after all it's only just a personal experience, and it may vary, but still, i believe "defaults" is what push me away.. and it is even more sad because valve is basically alone on the PC market, they could do way more, and they should do way more because... : it is even more more sad because if that job started many years ago, we'd have way more native linux game, and an overwall better eco system for linux and what is EVEN MORE sad is now they'll need to rely on Microsoft if they ever want to do cloud gaming, because they'll need to pay for a shit ton of Microsoft server licences if it was vulkan + linux, things would have been way easier for valve, wich is, i'm pretty sure, the reason why we still haven't heard of an official "steam cloud gaming solution" yet.. very very sad indeed i am all in for Linux, but efforts shouldn't be all in into windows emulation layers, problem is elsewhere!
hojjat12000 6y ago
Maybe this person saw the recent post on HN about Flameshot (and supporting Wayland) and thought "Oh... you can't even take a screenshot on Linux". I think the best distro for gaming is Pop_OS!. They have a pretty reliable set of software and they also have an NVIDIA version of the distro which is great for newbies. It also comes with Flathub (instead of Snap) by default so latest version of most of the softwares that newbies will use are available (such as Spotify, Slack... and everything else Electron).

TechSupportJosh 6y ago

I can imagine if they implemented something like this, you'd end up with a lot of games shipping untested Linux builds just to get reduced tax. It'd be awesome if Valve could reward those who develop for Linux and properly support it, but it seems unlikely. At least Proton is improving regularly and is making it better in one way at least.

Shadonototro 6y ago
Good point, but still i want to believe in developers, after all if things doesn't work, they can be sanctioned, just like they get sanctioned already if they release buggy games (they get removed from the store)

ubercow13 6y ago

Proton is already better than most native ports. I play at least half of the games in my library that do have native ports using Proton anyway, because either the native port simply doesn't work, it is less performant (common even for developers who used cross platform engines like Unity) or more buggy, or the Windows version has had content updates released that were never included in the Linux port. Proton is also essential for all of the games that already exist and that will never be ported to Linux. Any incentive to produce native ports for future games is not a replacement because (a) not every developer will take the bait, and (b) people will always still want to play old games. Linux purists will always seem to argue against Proton on some philosophical ground but the idea that the ecosystem was in a better place before it just seems absurd. You can now quite often play your whole Steam library on Linux, pretty seamlessly. There is just no comparison to the situation a few years ago. As a Linux gamer, what I want is to play all the games that I want to play. What I do not want is to waste my time with platform politics. 'Dealing with' the 'hacks on hacks' is already largely irrelevant, because mostly Proton just works.