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The first wave of Steam Decks sold out in minutes. They're now pushing back delivery to Q2 2022. The demand for the device is pretty significant; not New Consol
by 015a 5y ago
The first wave of Steam Decks sold out in minutes. They're now pushing back delivery to Q2 2022. The demand for the device is pretty significant; not New Console large, but its definitely big enough to be visible in the Steam Hardware Survey upon release later this year, despite the vast size of Steam's overall playerbase.
Two weeks ago, the Hardware Survey reported Linux breaching 1% for the first time ever [1], for reasons not related to Deck (in fact, its not obvious WHY linux has been growing; disappointment in the Win11 announcement may have caused it, but in short, its healthy, natural, long-term growth). I would put real money up that Linux will hit 2% by the January 2022 survey, and 5% by January 2023.
Proton short-circuits the porting argument. It works fantastically for most games, with zero effort from the devs.
We're not talking about Linux being the majority. But its definitely looking like it will see growth over the next decade.
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/steam-survey-linux-1-percent-steam-deck https://www.tomshardware.com/news/steam-survey-linux-1-perce...
- pjmlp 5y agoIt took 20 years to reach 1%, so... I believed in it back in the Loki golden days, nowadays I rather bet on macOS, Windows, mobile OSes and game consoles. It remains to be seen how the Steam fairs versus the Steam Machines of yore.
- onli 5y agoDon't let history blind you to the now ;) It's way better now than it was back then. There was a long period of good ports, which combined with the Steam for Linux client made Linux gaming a real thing already. But instead of fizzling out like the last time there were ports, now Linux transitioned to "Run every game" without needing a port. Some exceptions, but they are working on it and compatibility is huge. This will grow slowly but steadily now, and is ready to explode if Microsoft does on bad move (like crazy Windows 11 hardware requirements, but we'll see). Biggest danger to that development are the gpu prices, the Intel gpus can only help there. A competent 200 bucks model is desperately needed to keep the PC as a gaming platform alive. It has to run on fumes - on old hardware - now.
- pjmlp 5y agoJust like everyone would migrate to GNU/Linux because of DirectX 10 being Vista only, or OpenGL being replaced by Metal?
- onli 5y agoVista brought a lot of migration to Linux indeed. And the Mac being incapable of playing games is a factor for quite some people. But until recently, gaming on Linux was limited. No one said everyone though.
- ineedasername 5y agoWhat's the rate of increase though? Has it been linear, 0.05% per year? No: it has increased about 0.25% since 2019. It's not just that Linux is increasing, it's that it's rate of increase is also increasing.
- pjmlp 5y agoFor me that is wishful thinking that ignores increases in other platforms.
- ineedasername 5y agoHow is it wishful thinking? It's a proportional increase. Meaning that it has increased in both absolute and relative terms, and done so at a faster rate in the last two years. I'm stating an observation of the data. I don't see room for wishful thinking in that. Other platforms can increase while Linux also increases, the two aren't mutually exclusive. I'm not saying it's going to take over the market. It's a huge long shot it will ever really rival Windows. Even if makes significant headway on Steam, that also doesn't necessarily translate to a corresponding change in OS market share. But the pending arrival of the Steam Deck combined with an enormous increase in game compatibility has nonetheless set the stage for significant gains for Linux with Steam. Which part of the above observations are wishful thinking?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]