HiGame

When Valve announced that it would begin porting games to Linux as part of its SteamOS initiative, the move was greeted with skepticism in many quarters. Could Valve move the industry back towards cross-platform gaming when Windows had locked it down for so long? The answer clearly seems to be yes — the Linux side has crossed a significant milestone, with more than a thousand actual games available (including software, demos, and videos, the total stands at more than 2,000 items). Mac OS and Windows still have more games in total (1,613 for Mac and 4,814 for PC), but crossing the 1,000 mark is a significant achievement and a clear psychological milestone.

That said, there’s a definite difference between the types of games available on Linux and those available for Windows. New releases for Linux include Cities: Skylines, and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, but the vast majority of AAA titles are still Windows-centric.

The simplest way to check this is to simply sort the store by price, High to low. The Linux SteamOS store has two games at $59.95 and by the end of the first page (25 results) prices have dropped to $29.99. On the PC side there are 29 titles at $59 or above and more than 150 titles sell for $34.99 or higher.



We’re not suggesting that game price is an indicator of game quality, but the significant difference in game prices indicates that relatively few studios see Linux or SteamOS as a good return on investment for now. That’s not unusual or unexpected — Valve has been working with developers and game designers to change those perceptions one game and one gamer at a time. There are also early quality issues to be ironed out — when SteamOS launched, the graphical differences between the Direct3D and OpenGL versions of a title ranged from nonexistent to a clear win for the Windows platform.

The more developers sign on to bring titles over to SteamOS, the smaller the quality will gap will be, particularly if more developers move to using the next-generation Vulkan API. As for the long-term chances of Valve’s SteamOS gaining significant market share, I’ll admit that it seems unlikely — but then, not many years ago, the very idea of gaming on a Linux box was nearly a contradiction in terms. Outside of a dedicated handful of devs and some limited compatibility from Wine, if you used Linux, you did your gaming elsewhere.

That’s finally starting to change. And while it may not revolutionize the game industry or break Microsoft’s grip, it’s still a marked departure from the status quo of the past 15 years.

More...