We actually know this number. As per Steam’s hardware survey this group is around 2%, including Steam Deck players.
Best guess, Steam Deck sales are 5-10% of the Switch, which is in the same ballpark, so both numbers are probably roughly right.
Wheter you want to count that as “significant” is up to you, I guess. I bet the impact is very different depending on the game, even for supported games.
When it comes to large corporations, they’re very risk adverse but will ruthlessly pursue every stray penny. It always bubbles up from the indie companies, so expect native Linux support for specifically steamOS so they don’t have to contend with the GPL and FOSS advocates by 2030.
Nah, it’s always a cost/benefit analysis. If anything, many of them tend to be very shortsighted about fuzzy reputational impacts they can’t easily measure in dollars.
2% of users (and less of that in revenue, I bet, since some segment of Deck players will bite the bullet and play on Windows desktop anyway) may be worth salvaging…
…but only if it doesn’t cost you more than 2% in terms of additional dev cost or in terms of losing you players due to having worse security.
That math is debatable, but I guarantee it’s very likely how many of these decisions are getting made. Review bombing may or may not help there.
It does, but it depends on how many and how they emerge. If it’s a review bombing campaign it’s more likely to get moderated out or ignored. If it’s an organic thing it’s more likely to be perceived as a genuine PR problem. And in any case it depends on how many people are actually complaining. 2% can be a lot of people if the overall number is big, but if the game in question has a serious bug that’s a lot more people willing to write about it than… you know, whatever percentage of 2% happens to be Linux-focused enough to go write a review.
I guess I’m trying to impress that a lot of people play games and of those a fraction get activist and of those a fraction play on Deck or Linux desktop and of those a fraction are going to complain.
The best path to solving this is less a review bombing campaign and more having a larger audience that is just obviously profitable to support. That one is mostly on Valve, Lenovo and the rest of the official SteamOS adopters, whoever they end up being.
Well, and on finding a reliable solution for proper anticheat on Linux that keeps it as secure as at least Windows, let alone consoles.
Correct, the reason I gave a 5 year window is because the investment into Linux support is tiny right now so they don’t accidentally cut into the quarterlies.
Hah. You may have accidentally come up with the new “this is the year of Linux Desktop”.
“Five years from now is the year of Linux gaming being financially relevant short-term” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, though.
Honestly, I don’t have any predictions on this. So much is riding on how hard Valve is willing to invest on becoming a OS company and how receptive end users are to it. Right now the outcome falls somewhere between “Steam Machines” and “Nintendo Switch”, and I genuinely don’t think anybody can predict where in between it will fall yet. At the very least we need to see what happens to the Legion Go S and SteamOS adoption.
As someone who has been gaming entirely on Linux for nearly two years: we don’t necessarily even need native Linux support for games, as often the Windows version runs better with Proton.
We actually know this number. As per Steam’s hardware survey this group is around 2%, including Steam Deck players.
Best guess, Steam Deck sales are 5-10% of the Switch, which is in the same ballpark, so both numbers are probably roughly right.
Wheter you want to count that as “significant” is up to you, I guess. I bet the impact is very different depending on the game, even for supported games.
When it comes to large corporations, they’re very risk adverse but will ruthlessly pursue every stray penny. It always bubbles up from the indie companies, so expect native Linux support for specifically steamOS so they don’t have to contend with the GPL and FOSS advocates by 2030.
Nah, it’s always a cost/benefit analysis. If anything, many of them tend to be very shortsighted about fuzzy reputational impacts they can’t easily measure in dollars.
2% of users (and less of that in revenue, I bet, since some segment of Deck players will bite the bullet and play on Windows desktop anyway) may be worth salvaging…
…but only if it doesn’t cost you more than 2% in terms of additional dev cost or in terms of losing you players due to having worse security.
That math is debatable, but I guarantee it’s very likely how many of these decisions are getting made. Review bombing may or may not help there.
Negative reviews would increase the pressure. Every drop makes an ocean.
It does, but it depends on how many and how they emerge. If it’s a review bombing campaign it’s more likely to get moderated out or ignored. If it’s an organic thing it’s more likely to be perceived as a genuine PR problem. And in any case it depends on how many people are actually complaining. 2% can be a lot of people if the overall number is big, but if the game in question has a serious bug that’s a lot more people willing to write about it than… you know, whatever percentage of 2% happens to be Linux-focused enough to go write a review.
I guess I’m trying to impress that a lot of people play games and of those a fraction get activist and of those a fraction play on Deck or Linux desktop and of those a fraction are going to complain.
The best path to solving this is less a review bombing campaign and more having a larger audience that is just obviously profitable to support. That one is mostly on Valve, Lenovo and the rest of the official SteamOS adopters, whoever they end up being.
Well, and on finding a reliable solution for proper anticheat on Linux that keeps it as secure as at least Windows, let alone consoles.
Correct, the reason I gave a 5 year window is because the investment into Linux support is tiny right now so they don’t accidentally cut into the quarterlies.
Hah. You may have accidentally come up with the new “this is the year of Linux Desktop”.
“Five years from now is the year of Linux gaming being financially relevant short-term” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, though.
Honestly, I don’t have any predictions on this. So much is riding on how hard Valve is willing to invest on becoming a OS company and how receptive end users are to it. Right now the outcome falls somewhere between “Steam Machines” and “Nintendo Switch”, and I genuinely don’t think anybody can predict where in between it will fall yet. At the very least we need to see what happens to the Legion Go S and SteamOS adoption.
I’m speaking with industry knowledge on the state of gaming. It’s coming.
Oh, by all means, share your knowledge on the state of gaming. I am looking for investment opportunities right now and that seems like a hot scoop.
I’m already fighting an unfair labor practice, I’m not interested in being sued for violating NDA.
You know what? Good luck with that, genuinely.
You’re still wrong, though. Or at least overconfident.
I’m glad to hear that. May the future be full of penguins gaming!
As someone who has been gaming entirely on Linux for nearly two years: we don’t necessarily even need native Linux support for games, as often the Windows version runs better with Proton.