
Linux only needs one 'killer' game to explode, says Battlefield director - w1ntermute
http://www.polygon.com/2013/10/12/4826190/linux-only-needs-one-killer-game-to-explode-says-battlefield-director
======
jmduke
The question at the heart of this: what stakeholders exist that are
incentivized to create a Linux-exclusive game?

Halo was XBOX-exclusive because Bungie was owned by Microsoft; their specific
goal was to make an XBOX-exclusive title, and there was a very real incentive
for them to funnel energy into the platform. DICE (and to a much lesser
extent, Valve[1]) gets nothing specifically from having a Linux version
besides the slightly larger target audience (and PR); there's nothing in it
for them to spend massive development time on a AAA game and not release it on
Windows + Mac + Consoles as well.

Am I missing something?

[1] From what I understand, Valve's pursuing non-Windows options to try and
avoid a shootout between them and Windows Store. That's pretty understandable
in of itself.

~~~
hrkristian
I get the impression you've missed the announcements of SteamBoxes and
SteamOS. Valve do have triple-A titles, and they do -they may- have the
incentive to release it exclusively on Linux/SteamOS.

What concerns me about SteamOS is their (supposed, as I don't know if it's
been actually confirmed yet) Ubuntu base. I personally loathe Ubuntu, it and
all its derivatives seem bloated and unstable, I get the same feeling using it
as I would get using Windows Vista. Remember the extra hoops Vista introduced
to get to basic network settings?

Ubuntu might be Open Source, but it's not open, user-friendliness should not
equate locking down an OS, there must be -and is- a better way. I feel GNOME
on my Arch install does the job admirably, so much so that friends want a
piece of the action.

~~~
Shivetya
To be honest, if it were SteamBox exclusive I would not buy it. I don't buy
exclusives. Gaming is about fun and convenience to me. Having to buy hardware
always factors into my gaming, I am very content to not spend money on
hardware, especially niche hardware.

I was tempted to go with a PS/3 back in the days because I could offset the
cost of a dedicated gaming machine with the fact I could play Blu-Ray. So
unless this Steambox is insanely cheap or provides a significant other use and
does those other uses really well I will factor its cost into the game I want
to play.

~~~
JonnieCache
I was thinking earlier they might sell livebooting usb3 sticks with SteamOS
and HL3 on them, alongside the actual Steamboxes. They could bundle it with
the controller. Then release it for windows/mac a month later.

If they could get it to boot in like 5 seconds, and it came with the ability
to play a range of existing steam titles, it might be a winner.

~~~
jonhohle
I had thought of this as well, but one of the major benefits of Steam (access
to all your purchased games) is lost if you can't play them due to resource
constraints (not enough storage on the usb stick for persistence, long load
times for large games that need to be downloaded each time you boot).

Might be a good idea for single titles, though.

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jiggy2011
The example of Halo for xbox has the important distinction that Halo was an
exclusive title.

Almost by it's very nature Linux is not conductive to exclusive software,
simply because when you build something for Linux you are likely building on
top of open source dependencies which have far less legal and technical
barriers to being ported elsewhere.

For example most Windows titles rely on DirectX which is only supported on MS
systems. If the game development culture on Windows revolved around OpenGL we
would likely have seen more Mac/Linux ports of games already.

~~~
TwoBit
I disagree with that, as the open source dependencies of a major game
application are tiny compared to the application itself.

~~~
jiggy2011
Porting something Linux -> Windows is likely much easier than the other way
around. For example you can run GTK/QT on Windows but you can't run Win32 on
Linux without relying on something like Wine.

So you would need to have something that was either designed to be cross
platform from the get-go , or you need to re-engineer around different APIs.

~~~
asdkjahsdkjsh
The lack of Win32 API is not a big deal porting-wise.

~~~
jiggy2011
If you application is built on top of Win32 (or some other proprietary API)?

~~~
elmindreda
Games generally use far less of it than a normal GUI application would.

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dageshi
I wonder if at the end of the coming console cycle there will actually be no
need for new "consoles" per se. That is, effectively a "steambox" which will
likely just be a well designed, well integrated PC will be cheap enough and
powerful enough to compete directly with whatever new console comes out.

Essentially the PC eats the console market?

Removing windows from the equation would be a necessary step in bringing down
the price of such a device and would allow Valve to squeeze every last drop of
performance out of a device in the same way that Sony and Microsoft do with
their respective console OS's.

~~~
AJ007
Something I've been thinking about is the smartphone release cycle verse the
console release cycle. Valve could inflict a lot of damage on Microsoft and
Sony's market share just by releasing an incrementally better Steambox once a
year.

Consumers don't want to buy a new $1,000 computer once a year, but many are
close to doing it with their phones. The subscription/contract masks to cost
to a degree. I'm not sure what the economics will come down to, but a new
Steambox once every 6 years seems quite unlikely.

~~~
hrkristian
As SteamBoxes are modular much like a regular stationary computer, I should
think the GPU would see more upgrades than the rest, making the annual upgrade
budget much lower than that of a smartphone...

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vonskippy
Huh? Since Gamers are only a tiny fraction of the PC User space that statement
makes zero sense. Linux on the Desktop is dead because most of it's common
apps either suck, or are already available (with a much better UI) on
Windows/Mac.

~~~
Mikeb85
Don't underestimate the 'halo' effect (not Halo, though it may also apply)
that games have on a platform. Much of MS Windows' early success and dominance
was a result of having many more games available than Mac OS.

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afreak
If this were truly the case, it would have been long ago since we had Quake
and Unreal on the platform already. Linux gaming is only going to succeed if
Steam does.

~~~
alex4nder
Those titles were easily available, and better supported, on other platforms.
Why would anyone switch to Linux to play them?

I bought my first Macintosh just to be able to play Q3Test, before it was
released for Linux or Windows.

~~~
rythie
If you bought a mac to play Q3Test, surely it's not beyond the realms of
reason that someone with PC, would dual-boot Linux to play a game (since it's
no cost).

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mortdeus
Linux needs to be sold in department stores like Walmart and Best Buy to
explode. I think this guy seriously underestimates how disconnected everyday
people are with tech. Everyday people don't understand the point of installing
Linux when they have Windows. However when shipped on devices out of the box
people don't need to question the purpose. (Take android's success as the key
example of this.) Even Linus addresses this as the key problem with Linux's
market share (or lack therefore of).

~~~
qbrass
It's been done before, they usually end up getting returned when somebody
needs to install Office to do their work.

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sigzero
Haven't we been hearing similar statements for YEARS now? Yes, yes we have.

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philjackson
I wonder if releasing HL3, on Linux, a week before Windows would do the trick?

~~~
moccajoghurt
Make HL3 an exclusive Linux title. That would do the trick for sure.

~~~
babby
I keep hearing this in the thread but be realistic guys - never going to
happen. Best you can hope for is early release on Linux.

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informatimago
Linux has already exploded, with Android!

Android/Linux has more than 500 million users!

(Perhaps it was meant GNU? But I would assume it was assumed this killer game
would not be freedom software. Then how would that help GNU explode? No, what
would help GNU explode, is more people able to program, and asking for freedom
software).

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tomrod
I nominate 0 AD. I've been quite impressed with it, and would love to see it
reach widespread distribution.

~~~
gizmo686
Sorry, 0 AD is cross platform.

~~~
tomrod
darn those awesome FOSS projects :)

------
benologist
I don't think that's at all realistic without massively subsidized hardware
from Valve so the linux version can be the 'best' version, or someone risking
hundreds of millions of dollars on exclusivity so the linux version can be the
'only' version.

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gourneau
Look at these numbers from the last humble indie bundle 9. Linux is ready.

Windows $4.62

Mac $6.04

Linux $7.50

~~~
chimeracoder
I'm pretty sure that _every_ single Humble Bundle has had the largest average
donation come from Linux[0].

On some, the _total_ Linux donations even beat the OS X donations, despite
having a fraction of the number of users.

[0] Certainly all the ones I've participated in, which is a lot of them.

~~~
Zancarius
Yeah, I don't think this is a fair metric either. If anything, I think it
illustrates that Linux users, on average, are more generous than their
compatriots. It doesn't say anything about whether Linux is "ready" (for some
value of "ready"). That said, as an Arch user, I'd love it if more games were
ported to Linux (or developed there first, then ported to other platforms). I
dislike having to boot to another OS just to play a game...

However, from a pure market standpoint, the Humble Bundles do point out that
there's money out there to be made from Linux gaming. Niche markets can be
lucrative, and it's even better if the people in that niche have money they're
willing to spend. Whenever I see games on Steam that are multiplatform (that
includes Linux), I'll buy them over anything else. But, I think that's also
something of a confirmation bias--and the fact that I buy them on principle.
(I'm not really an avid gamer, and I don't bother much with AAA titles,
either.)

Of course, there is one major downside. The Linux market is relatively small
compared to Windows and OSX which brings with it other disadvantages.

On the whole, I think this is a positive development. At least someone in the
industry seems to be recognizing the need to embrace platforms beyond Windows
or consoles.

------
ijk
The problem with getting any 'killer' app on Linux is that most killer apps,
outside of a specialized subset, aren't going to be Linux-exclusive, so there
isn't any reason to go for Linux in particular...yet. Steam on Linux may shift
the ecosystem enough to make it a prefered platform, but it's too early to
tell.

~~~
TwoBit
Right. Nobody is going to make an Linux-exclusive major game. On the other
hand, Linux has already taken off, just not for desktop usage. And BSD Unix is
successful in gaming, as the PS3 and PS4 are BSD Unix with their own shell.

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angularly
Very few gamers would switch to Linux just for one game. We use Windows, not
because we like it especially - hell most gamers I know, use Mac OS X for
their professional work - but because it's on Windows (or consoles) all the
games are. I predict Steam Machines will become a big hit tho, if the
controller is as good as I hope.

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aclevernickname
So who here doesn't think that HL3 is going to be SteamOS-exclusive?

~~~
officemonkey
My bet is Steam will offer a ready-baked SteamOS on an ISO a week before Half-
Life 3 goes live on Linux-only. No MacOS, No Windows.

------
baby
Totally agree, if Linux' dad, who has money, would buy a studio and create an
exclusive title, it would help a lot.

------
NanoWar
GTA V for Linux? The first "killer" game on Linux will probably be cross
platform.

------
shmerl
I hope CD Projekt Red will get to the point of releasing the Witcher 3 for
Linux.

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simplyinfinity
because yeah , i'm going to just ditch the 60+ games i own for windows,
install linux just for that one game ? oh .. c'moon I know dual booting is
possible , but why bother ?

~~~
informatimago
Not you. But I only play with basically one fame, okmarguably not a game, but
a flight simulator, and if ran on linux, I wouldn't have a MSWindows box.

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officemonkey
Half-Life 3 confirmed.

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frozenport
MS Office: the game

------
cranklin
one killer game that isn't ported to Windows.

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alisnic
don't worry, Half life 3 will do its job

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goggles99
The comparisons drawn in this article are far from accurate. Comparing the
Xbox taking off vs the ps2 is a far different comparison than of Windows vs
Linux. If we are talking in terms of gaming by itself, it still is a bad
comparison. The Xbox and PS3 had a comparable quantity and quality of games at
the point when Halo was released. The buyer was already making a choice
between two fairly closely matched (in terms of cost, available games, and
features such as online experience ETC.) machines. One game MAY have been able
to persuade them to purchase one system or the other, but this is a far
different situation.

Windows has 20x (probably more) good games than linux, is as stable, comes
already loaded on almost every machine you buy, has a far larger choice of
other apps, Everyone is used to the windows experience (although win 8 changes
that), and maybe most importantly - it has a user base that is 20x that of
desktop Linux (you won't be able to play most of your friends in a Linux
exclusive game today).

The claim in this article may be true someday, but today is not that day.
Linux has a LOT more ground to make up before this article/premise can
actually hold water.

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benihana
Get real. Linux needs a better user experience to explode. The amount of work
needed to get even a 'user friendly' distro like Ubuntu up and running is
ridiculous when compared to getting OS X and Windows in the same state. Simple
things, like listening to music, watching video and browsing the web are
harder. I haven't tried to set up a gaming rig with Linux, but I imagine it
will be like trying to play games on DOS 3.0 back in the 90s. At this point,
it's easier to just buy an iMac and boot into Windows to play games.

~~~
redthrowaway
When was the last time you actually installed Ubuntu? It mostly installs
itself with little to no input from the user.

>I haven't tried to set up a gaming rig with Linux, but I imagine it will be
like trying to play games on DOS 3.0 back in the 90s.

Install Steam, install game, play game.

>it's easier to just buy an iMac and boot into Windows to play games.

As someone who actually _does_ dual-boot a Mac using Bootcamp for gaming
purposes, and who _also_ games on Linux, the former was far more difficult to
set up (installing Windows on a MBP from a USB stick is a fool's errand).

In short, you simply don't appear to know what you're talking about. The
trouble with gaming on Linux is selection, not anything intrinsic to Linux
itself.

~~~
blumkvist
I've been trying ubumtu since 8.04, revising it every year or so. Just tried
13.04 and it's the same old pile of... I encounter problems everywhere -
updates crashing some program, alt+tab not working, drivers crashing, removing
myself from sudoers file by accident, problems with flash, java is a pain to
get going, etc. I need to do work and the OS gets in the way. I need to google
a problem every day and that breaks my workflow. It's a terrible experience
honestly. Very disappointed, because I love the idea, but hate Cannonical - so
many years and so many supporters and they cann't figure this thing for 7+
years.

~~~
Geee
As a general rule, it's important to remember that Linux is an OS made by
amateurs and hobbyists. If a 5-year old kid shows you a drawing, you would say
it's great, while it's actually piece of shit. Same mentality should be
applied when reviewing Linux distros.

~~~
freyrs3
Linux has been hacked on by some of the most brilliant men and women of our
generation and powers an enormous amount of the world's network
infrastructure. Calling this an "amateur" project just demonstrates a
staggering level of ignorance.

