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It looked for a little while there two years ago that gaming on Linux was finally beginning to take off, mostly thanks to Valve. That push seems to quickly be evaporating. Valve's latest Steam statistics shows that usage of both Linux and MacOS X on Steam is declining, while Windows usage is actually gaining. Linux usage on Steam is down to 0.94% from 1.05% last month, while Windows usage is up to a whopping 95.81%. Was that push for SteamOS in particular and gaming on Linux in general just all smoke?
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Linux Usage on Steam Continues to Decline
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To be a kind of moral Unix, he touched the hem of Nature's shift.
-- Shelley
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Thursday May 28 2015, @12:14AM
Windows games are locked to Steam too. Your excuse doesn't explain why linux use is down while Windows is up.
you're right, nothing can properly explains why people are still using Windows. ;)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @01:13AM
The book titled "Windows For Dummies" is also the reason they use it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Kell on Thursday May 28 2015, @02:36AM
I believe it's a false dichotomy - Windows or Linux. I don't know a single Linux user (including myself), who doesn't have a dedicated Windows box (or dualboot) for gaming. We're long since the point where the average Linux techie couldn't afford two decent performance machines, and the bang-for-buck of gaming machines has gotten better over time: I can play modern games decently on a sub $1k machine. So why aren't people playing games on Linux? Because they don't need to. Set up a windows machine with optimised GPU drivers for nothing but games, use your primary *nix machine for everything else, and get on with your life.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @03:12AM
I don't have a windows box, if I did it would have been wiped and running Linux by now.
(Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Thursday May 28 2015, @03:28AM
Hi, I have no Linux box. I'm also not much of a gamer although I played the original Quake recently and it rocked.
(Score: 4, Informative) by linuxrocks123 on Thursday May 28 2015, @03:30AM
That is, I have no Windows box. All my box are Linux box.
(Score: 2) by Hawkwind on Thursday May 28 2015, @04:36AM
Second, I game on Linux and don't have Windows at home.
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Thursday May 28 2015, @07:51AM
Happy to report I joined that club yesterday.
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Thursday May 28 2015, @04:42AM
And I'm glad you don't know me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday May 28 2015, @06:19AM
You evidently don't know me, either! I have not run (notice that, not "owned", not "purchased" not "pirated") Windows since Win95. Glad to make your acquaintance. Si vous plait.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Noble713 on Thursday May 28 2015, @12:05PM
^This x1000.
Sure, I have Debian Jessie on my laptop, for doing my research (GNURadio stuff, coding, etc...)
Meanwhile, my desktop runs Windows 7 x64 because I play a *LOT* of games, the bulk of which aren't available on Steam or don't have Linux Steam versions. And I have some other CAD software that isn't available on Linux (and/or runs terribly in Wine).
So there is absolutely no incentive to put Linux on my desktop, install Steam.....and cut my gaming inventory by 50%.
(Score: 2) by broggyr on Thursday May 28 2015, @02:07PM
I have a Windows box because many of the games I bought through Steam for Windows simply aren't ported to Steam on Linux (GTA, DeadSpace, Skyrim to name a few).
Taking things out of context since 1972.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by urza9814 on Thursday May 28 2015, @02:56PM
Yeah I used to have a dedicated Windows box for gaming. Until about a month ago I decided it was time to dust the thing off and repurpose it as a file server and media center. The video card is almost a decade old and certainly wasn't a high-end card even back then, so that tells you how much I actually cared about the thing...I basically never even booted it up, because half the games I wanted to run on it are Windows games that no longer run on Windows (but work perfectly well in Wine!); the other half still works on Windows...but work fine in Wine too. So why even bother going through the hassle of booting up a dedicated Windows box?
The funny thing is, now that it's running Linux with Steam and some emulators and some native games and great plug-and-play gamepad support (using some old PS2 gamepads)...NOW I actually want to upgrade the hardware. Ten years running Windows and I never found much to do with it that system; the day I installed Linux suddenly it looks like it has a hell of a lot of potential -- for gaming! :)
(Score: 2) by meisterister on Thursday May 28 2015, @05:07PM
I will second this with the condition that easy and decent dual-booting is only the price of a second hard drive (around $60) and a secondhand copy of Windows ($10-$50 if you're willing to use Vista, though it only runs "well" on an SSD.)
I'll also add the condition that it applies mostly just to new games. 98% of the games I play either have a Linux port (say hello to KSP), run on DOS (SC2K), or either run well enough on Wine (Civ 3) or one of my old boxes (see sig).
(May or may not have been) Posted from my K6-2, Athlon XP, or Pentium I/II/III.