There’s some ways to get around that problem. For example, they could build and package it as a Snap or Flatpak. The purpose of Snap and Flatpak is specifically to address that issue: bundling programs with their dependencies so that they are distribution-agnostic.
1 Like
That would certainly be a waste of time for something useless like that
1 Like
You are sadly miss informed. There are many distros. but there is no need to target all of them (I’ll provide a list for reference purposes in a min). While one can have trouble with varying libraries, this is more easily solved by setting up a system requirements list.
Look at the quote from the article. The devs. at id Software had a working windows game on Linux natively with a small set of changes to the code and basically a recompile. It wasn’t just functional, the performance was equivalent on Linux and Windows.
In addition to the system requirements idea, Blizz could partner with an organization that has expertise in Linux gaming.
~http://www.feralinteractive.com/en/linux-games/~
These aren’t simple, old 2d, low graphics quality games. These are high resolution, high polygon count, AAA quality games that match or exceed the performance of their Windows counterparts. The games run on multiple distros all with the same levels of performance or very minor variations. Blizz has already partnered with Netease for their work in China so, partnering with Feral from the beginning would be a logical move that gains them time, by hiring experts. As Tinne noted there are the snap and flat pack options, but these are rendered mostly unecessary.
Its funny you mentioned the idea that Blizz would need to build their own distro from the ground up and have their Linux games tailored to it. This path has already been explored. There are a few gaming focused/optimized distros and then there is Steam OS. 
Fortunately for us there is little need for a custom gaming only distro. All I need to do is install a distro, I’ll pick either Manjaro or Linux Mint, install Steam, install my game, and play. Partnering with Steam is yet another option.
As much as I love Linux at my work station, it is NOT a consumer OS and it is NOT for games.
Even the friendliest of distributions is still not good for a consumer.
I don’t know why you’d ever want to make it into a gaming platform other than proving a point and being an elitist.
It’s like bringing an industrial tractor to F1 racing and demanding that it be allowed to compete.
Linux has its applications that it is good at. Linux has its shortcomings where it’s bad. I don’t see why it needs to be able to do everything - I’m all for it to remain a specialized platform.
3 Likes
I have been able to play every single game of the launcher using wine + DXVK (the directx to vulkan wrapper) with awesome framerate (much better than using opengl for example, and with no noticeable difference from running it in Windows, at least in my machine). I tested all of them except the call of duty ones, and they all worked flawlessly. And it’s trivially easy to install with Lutris.
Just do what Steam does: officially support Ubuntu’s major LTS releases because it’s the most popular one, and whoever wants to use a different distro has to deal with the dependencies themselves. Chances are, if you’re not using Ubuntu or Fedora you’re probably an advanced Linux user and can deal with that yourself. For example, I use Arch, and I’ve come to accept that it’s not going to be officially supported by most stuff, and that I’ll likely be recompiling libs on occasion.
Also, and this should be obvious, you can distribute apps packed with their own runtime .so libraries. Again, Steam does that.
False information ^^.
Linux is and has been for more than 10 years, ready for gaming. If you can watch DVDs/Blu-Ray movies, listen to music, and give commands to an application via input devices (keyboard, mouse, bat wing controller), then you can play games. The fact that nVidia has fully embraced making native optimized Linux drivers for their video card products, means full 3D acceleration. AMD has been supporting Linux for a while now with optimized video drivers. Even better is that we have the Vulkan API, which is an open standard. Its on Windows, Mac, Linux, and many other platforms. Vulkan can outperform DX12. 
Your industrial tractor example is backwards. Linux would be the F1 racing card with a jet engine, while windows would be big, slow tractor, and yes I’m talking about Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and 10. You are welcome to backup your claim about what Linux is bad at.
There is no need to be elitist or prove any points. Steam/Valve, Feral Interactive, nVidia, AMD, Intel, and Google (and many others) have already proven the points about viability. Keep in mind Google is far into the development of Stadia, its Linux based console-like online gaming service (google it). There are plenty of newbie friendly distros. to choose from and multiple desktop environments for them. This allows a single distro to be friendly toward Windows, Mac, and Unix folks. I recommend Linux Mint, Manjaro, and Pop!-OS for newbies. Steam comes pre-installed on Manjaro.
@Vaalix:
I did say that I would provide a list of distro’s for reference purposes.
@Oshogun:
While this maybe true now. All it takes is a patch or two from Blizzard to break the setup. Besides I like having support, and I support developers/publishers who make native Linux games by purchasing their games. The exception being is that if the game is of no interest to me or the end product on the Linux side is crappy, then they get no $$ from me. Blizz has a reputation for quality and polish in their games so I don’t think they will disappoint in that department. I would be willing to toss a couple dollars to get native Linux versions of their existing games. The one game I have little expectation of a native Linux port is WoW. I just don’t think Blizz has the balls to bring it to Linux. They are just way too scared for what ever reason. D4, D3, War3-TFT, War3 Reforged, SC-2, SC-Remastered, D2-LoD, Overwatch, Hearthstone, HotS, CoD are ripe for migration to Linux. The key is targeting Vulkan. Targeting Vulkan is pretty EZ.
It can happen, but it’s unlikely. I’ve been able to run those games for the last 4 or 5 years under linux with no issues.
Straight from Lutris:
~https://lutris.net/games/diablo-iii/~
There are minor issues and caveats. Its not something insurmountable or requiring herculean effort. The point is I don’t want to or have the time to tinker, and I want to run native 64-bit software. My wife’s old core2duo based PC (circa 2008) is running a 64-bit processor and runs faster in Linux. I don’t want Windows. I don’t want translation layers, fancy windows software wrappers, or emulators; not even 32-bit to 64-bit translation. Just plain, simple, optimized, efficient, raw 64-bit native Linux executables.
WINE is a wonderful translation layer, a testament to Linux’s viability, and was intended to provide a means of crossing the lack of access gap. It should have been a seen as a temporary fix and a proof of concept, to motivate and inspire developers/publishers to bring their software to Linux. Instead the robustness of WINE is being used as an excuse for not bringing their software to Linux. Every excuse imaginable, motivated by fear, ignorance, and laziness, has been levied as a reason to not have Linux as a target platform.
The laziness, fear, and misinformation started back in the 1990’s. We are more than 20 years beyond that point. Even Microsoft has given up. The old joke of MS-Linux is a reality. Yes, boys and girls, Microsoft has their own Linux distro and I’m not talking about Windows 10. They have effectively forfeited the struggle against the little engine that could. However, their forfeit was made real when they released Windows 10 for free. Win-10 couldn’t compete with Win-7 and Linux had already eclipsed Win-7.
The last fleeting holdouts are the Windows application software developers/publishers like Blizzard and Adobe. Thankfully I only use Flash and Acrobat Reader, and both are on Linux.
1 Like
I understand your stance on wine, doesn’t is the only have I bought that isn’t a Linux native. Before dxvk it was a pain, with updates braking things, and having to wait for fixes. But since dxvk the game has run flawlessly. I don’t use Lutris, I have wine staying installed from the repo, and dxvk installed from aur, I’m also using Manjaro, I get 60-80 fps at 1920x1080 with high settings and 8xAA on my rx460.
OT but feral released a vulkan update for Shadow of Mordor, and it doubled my fps in that game, vulkan is fantastic.
1 Like
it’s hard to convince any developer to make a client for a minuscule % of the PC userbase
6 Likes
Oh snap thanks. I haven’t loaded Shadow of Mordor in quite a while. I’ll be loading it up just to experience the improved performance. Does your WINE/dmvk setup have any impact (positive or negative) on Steam or Steam games? Have you tried installing/running the Blizz Launcher and D3 through Steam Proton?
@MarioDragon:
More false information ^^. You have absolutely no means to accurately determine the number Linux gamers. Any windows user is by definition a possible Linux user. WINE makes it so. However, let’s test your theory.
Windows to Linux Sales Comparison: Nope. Sorry. A single download of any of the myriad of distros. can be used to install and unlimited number of desktops/laptops. Linux is available as a free download. Unfortunately, most people who buy a new PC will buy it with Windows because all they know is Windows and Apple macs. If they don’t know how to use a Mac they tend to just use what they are familiar with, which is Windows. Users stick with Windows until I come along with a USB key or DVD. I install Linux, breath new life into their 6+ year old slow, lethargic, bloated, mostly malware infested, cripple Windows PC. I save them anywhere from $600 to $1500 which contributes to the decline in new PC sales and an increase in the newbie Linux user count.
Windows to Linux License Comparison: Nope… failed again. Licensing generally is only involved in server side Linux distros. (ex: Red Hat Linux) and other proprietary software. Server implementations tend to come with support contracts thus some licensing strategy might be used, especially if proprietary software is being deployed (ex: Novell’s GroupWise email client and/or server products).
Windows to Linux Web Usage Statistics Comparison: Fail again broski. There are browser add-ons to mask the browser/OS/platform of the client. This is part of a strategy to obscure and anonymize the client/user. Also, this fails because of why Google Chrome is the most used browser on the planet. Chrome is installed by default on Android smartphones. Android is just a custom Linux distro. running on mobile devices. To get an sense of the scale, here is an excerpt from a Forbes article:
Apple sold 215.8 million iPhones in calendar 2017, and IDC estimates that there were 1.244 billion Android smartphones shipped during the year.
The Forbes article:
~Apple's iOS Loyalty Rate Is Lower Than Google's Android, But Apple May Steal More Users Each Year
This just means Linux has way more deployments and consumer use through Andriod than Apple iPhones and this completely eclipses PC, Xbox, and PS-4 sales.
Windows to Linux Market Share Comparison: This fails for the same reason that a sales or licensing argument fails. Microsoft can track licenses in use through Windows Update. Linux distros. do not have a need to track this information.
Ubuntu, violated this with its recent release. I don’t use Ubuntu because my activity is none of their business. The equipment I use, my IP address, the country I’m downloading or installing from are off limits to them. Go back and watch the movie 300, where the Persian King demands an innocuous tribute of earth and water. See how the Spartans respond. My contribution comes in the form of testing, reporting, and the education of others. This builds community. I also support companies who port and make native Linux software with my $$.
I could elaborate further, but I believe I’ve debunked your statement. Please, provide alternative arguments, because all of our PC gaming sisters and bro’s need to see for themselves. Microsoft already did a Roberto Duran (“No Mas”).
Come to the dark side Mario.
3 Likes
It does not affect steam, the steam stuff is all self contained.
I haven’t had a need to try to let it through proton since it just works with wine staging + dxvk. When my daughter will let me play on the computer I’ll give it a go.
ETA: that was super easy, I pointed steam to the d3 executable and it loaded it with proton. No fuss, no muss. The performance is the same with my regular wine, and I get controller support through steam, so it’ll be easier for me to play on the PC without pain.
Thanks BossDog, that was a very helpful question. 
1 Like
Just so folks understand, the Shadow of Modor game has a Linux Native version of the game. The publisher along with Feral Interactive released an update to the game to enable Vulkan support, Vulkan being a cross platform API and open standard. Vulkan is a key component in making high performance games for multiple platforms.
There is plenty of nerd factor involved in Linux. The beauty is that one is not forced to become a Linux nerd to make use of Linux, much like using Windows doesn’t require one to become a Windows nerd. However, there is plenty to learn, discover, enjoy, and get excited about with Linux so, one is free to go as far as they wish. If gaming is as far as one wants to go, Steam provides the point, click, play experience the same as Windows. WINE and Proton allow Windows games/apps. to run on Linux by tricking the apps into thinking they are running on Windows.
Let’s keep the Linux gaming and Diablo discussion going.
that’s a very strange minority essay you’ve got going there. you’re a minuscule %, not a lot to argue about that. Nobody uses linux my friend. .8% on steam hardware survey, and a political-worthy essay on how you’re somehow not a miniscule % lmao
4 Likes
100% facts, super weird thing to do right?
@MarioDragon:
Where are you getting your information from or are you just quoting your feelies? Please tell me you have more than Steam survey. The only time they would be able to count Linux users is if the player has the Steam app open in Linux at the point when the survey is taken. If I’m in D3 at that time, that means I’m on Windows 10. I don’t run Steam upon boot up or login (the same goes for b-net launcher) so, they would not be able to include me and many others. I don’t remember them announcing the dates/times of their surveys either so there isn’t a way to coordinate collection/participation.
So I know you have more sources beyond Steam survey. Also, I would be interested in the last 20 to 30 survey results.
Yeah, the Steam survey results are definitely biased in a few different ways that means the results won’t accurately reflect the number of Linux desktop users. Or even the number of Linux users in the gaming population. Because a sizable chunk of Linux users who are gamers will dual-boot with Windows and probably run Steam on Windows at least some, if not most, of the time.
I sure do. Outside of gaming, I’m primarily a Linux user. And while I do have Steam installed on Linux on a couple devices, and I do use it some of the time, 90% of the time I spent in Steam I’m booted into my Windows partition.
That being said, the % of Linux desktop users still isn’t very high. Higher than 0.8%? Yeah, almost certainly. But we’re only talking something like 2-3%. Linux has done really well in lots of other spaces, but desktop adoption still isn’t particularly high.
Another good source of % of Linux users with a large sample size is browser statistics. That type of data also has problems and biases, e.g. the portion of Linux vs. Windows users that actually visit the sites that do the tracking isn’t necessarily reflective of the portion of Linux users in the population.
That being said, the browser based stats (focussing on desktop only to avoid mobile users dominating the dataset) have shown Linux at around 2% desktop usage for quite some time now. E.g. Desktop Operating System Market Share Worldwide | Statcounter Global Stats
So while the 0.8% is probably biased and a bit lower than the real Linux desktop user share, his point still stands. We aren’t exactly dominating the desktop market.
1 Like
However Steam survey shows the percentage of players who have to use Linux for gaming. This is simple - since the game is not something like a mobile game you play 5 minutes every time and leave, it doesn’t seem too bad to reboot into Windows if you have one.
And if you don’t have a windows, you are one of the 0.8%.
1 Like
This is where I disagree. The low % numbers just is based on feelings mostly. For most Linux users they try it out and if they like it the just keep going. The majority do not announce to the world that they’ve switched. They don’t take out full page ads in the NY Times, WaPo, etc. They just use it and maybe share their experience with a small group of people they are connected to.
Windows users, and gamers in particular, just assume everyone else is on Windows. Its not like there is a massive global marketing campaign for desktop Linux. What is definitely in the super tiny minority is people, like me and you, who announce in a public forum, such as this one, that they are a primary Linux user.
So, the mis-perception begets the chicken and egg scenario (mis-perception #1):
- only a tiny % of users use Linux
- tiny % of users = tiny pool of customers
- tiny pool of customers = not worth the time/$$ to target
The above leads to mis-perception #2:
- As long as mis-perception #1 persists Linux will never ever be worth targeting
Here is where the mis-perception fails:
- Google’s entire business is based on Linux (that includes Android and gaming on Android)
- Multiple other companies have build their business on Google and google services.
- Google Stadia game console is just yet another custom Linux distro. in pretty packaging and its release is just around the corner.
- Google Stadia will make heavy use of Vulkan in the games.
- Valve/Steam!.. don’t really need to explain this one.
- Feral Interactive (porting Windows games to Linux with a high degree of parity in performance).
- EPIC, the gaming publisher, sees Linux as priority ~Epic Games Wants Its Store Running On Linux And Is Taking Steps To Get There
Here is the real biggie…
.
.
.
Microsoft sees Linux as a priority. Seriously, google “ms linux distro”. As I said in another post, Microsoft pulled a Roberto Duran and gave up the fight against Linux when they released windows 10 for free (technically earlier than that).
This is a bad source of information. I use browser plug-ins on Firefox to anonymize myself and obscure my browsing activity. What the web servers see is Firefox for Android, when I surf. However, I don’t bother on Windows because there is only a limited number of sites I visit when in Windows. I also have True Type fonts installed which further obscures the digital finger print used to identify my desktop. Basically, I can tell a web server that I’m connecting via Firefox on a PDP-11, DEC Ultrix, or IBM AiX.
Not everyone bothers with obscuring and anonymizing themselves on the web. However, I find that if a site is looking to feed malicious script code to Windows or Android users and I’m on Linux, I’m doing fine. I know folks will lean on anti-virus software, but there is safety being basically invisible to bad actors.
Side Note: Since Windows users are a ripe target for virus writers, crackers, and malicious web script authors, its a reason not to run WINE.
The survey results are skewed. No one has to use Linux. If one is gaming on a PC from 2008 and beyond, one can run plenty of games just fine, including D3. Again, if I’m in D3 on Windows and Steam kicks off their hardware survey, my Linux install won’t be counted thus lowering the number of detected Linux users. Tinne explains other ways the results are skewed. Steam does not do a data collection every time you open the Steam launcher.
I’m not sure if you get my point because I think I understood what Tinne said.
If you have a windows installed on your PC to play games, there is no point for a game company to make a linux release, unless it’s only a few commands/clicks away - which is possible on smaller and less optimized games, which use general engine.
When a game company makes decision on which platforms to release, the only concern is cost and profit. If you have a windows environment to play the game, you are not part of the “profit”.