6 ms·

Basically game developers never once booted linux. They'd need to do some learning and don't want to. They might have superficially read something about distri

• pjmlp 4y ago
  On the contrary, they are more that used to POSIX stacks on macOS, iOS, PlayStation, Nintendo, Android, ChromeOS.... Yet porting to GNU/Linux is not worthwhile.
  • LtWorf 4y ago
    macos? The same OS which decided no more 32bit binaries because of reasons? The same OS which decided no more opengl because of reasons? That OS? No gamer uses that OS. If you think it's hard on linux, it's much harder on osx. android is not posix, that is completely hidden from the developer. chromeos is just linux + google tracking. consoles are a complete separate world. Please let's try to have a serious conversation. Game developers that use frameworks such as unreal are often unaware of how the underlying system works.
    • nemothekid 4y ago
      >No gamer uses that OS. If you think it's hard on linux, it's much harder on osx. You are conflating "gamer" with "game developer". Don't forget that millions of game devs successfully build and launch games for iOS. >consoles are a complete separate world. The PS4 is literally FreeBSD.
      • LtWorf 4y ago
        You want me to believe on ios it never happens that apple breaks support for older software Like they do all the time on computers?
        • pjmlp 4y ago
          It happens, but there is an economic advantage in putting up with such breakages, while on GNU/Linux systems that money bag isn't there to keep game studios interested other than testing waters and running away afterwards.
          • LtWorf 4y ago
            Yes of course there is: reselling the same game over and over.
      • bayindirh 4y ago
        > Don't forget that millions of game devs successfully build and launch games for iOS. With XCode, and tons of visual tools which abstract the OS and device to a great extent, making it almost invisible. > The PS4 is literally FreeBSD. Which is also shipped with nice SDKs for everything and anyhting related to PS4.
        • pjmlp 4y ago
          Same can be applied to GNU/Linux and most studios just don't care.
          • bayindirh 4y ago
            Yeah, instead of SDL + OpenGL/Vulkan, game studios use DirectX + NVIDIA Game Works, which provides a nice, cozy walled garden and vendor lock-in. Win-Win for Microsoft and NVIDIA. Again, it's just market powers and path of least resistance. It's not technical.
            • pjmlp 4y ago
              Of course it is not technical, there is no money to be made for most game studios.
    • pjmlp 4y ago
      Game developers...
  • bayindirh 4y ago
    I kindly disagree with you. Most of the platform provided by a console is nicely abstracted with SDKs. The code they touch is the SDK which provides direct, and tailored access to utilities and capabilities provided by the platform itself. Even the Linux binaries of then AAA titles are ported by some talented developers, sometimes out of the studio. I remember porting of Unreal Tournament to Linux was an official effort, but a work of a single guy. So, I don't expect studio-wide POSIX knowledge on game studios.
    • pjmlp 4y ago
      The point was that even with lower barriers there is no economic interest in doing the work.
      • bayindirh 4y ago
        So, it's as I said. The hurdle is not technical. The studios just don't prefer, and I'm OK with that.
        • pjmlp 4y ago
          It is hard to prefer something that usually don't provide profits.
          • LtWorf 4y ago
            Are you really surprised the consumer market isn't buying a product that doesn't exist?