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this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2023
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Gaming
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Valve is basically carrying Linux gaming. While no one should trust a corporate entity, their actions speak pretty loudly. Thanks, Valve.
Valve knows they need to provide an alternative to windows if they want to stay relevant. Windows + XBox exclusives could kill their business model if they allowed it to happen. And they've been trying to improve Linux gaming for over a decade now.
That threat definitely kicked this whole thing off. With Windows 8, Microsoft made moves for a Windows App store only version of Windows. It didn't pan out for them, but had it it would have effectively killed Valve at the time.
I think Windows 12 will likely renew that push. Valve has positioned themselves to resist it, and in Microsoft does do a strong push in that direction, it is possible they will lose the PC gaming market, in large part thanks to Valve's work.
Many are resistant to trust a corporation, and I agree, but Valve isn't a normal corporation of that size. They are owned by one guy, and as such his choices are the only ones that matter. As long as he keeps making the right choices and Valve doesn't go public or sell out, they will likely continue being a good shepherd of PC and Linux gaming.
Yep, Gabe's long term vision is key. If they were a public company Wall Street would be pressuring them to kill the Linux stuff for short term profit, without any care of where that would leave them strategically in a few years.
I do worry about what would happen to Valve after Gabe. I trust him, but corporations outlive their owners eventually.
Rightly so, see this current Thread: Microsoft wants to move Windows fully to the cloud
If Microsoft really wants to slowly kill "local windows", Valve would be fucked if there is no way for gamers to game locally.
It'll be hard enough to compete with "performance on demand" anyway, at least until Microsoft pushes the pricing back up after luring everyone in.
See Netflix, everyone loved it, no-one bought DVDs/BlueRays, and now everyone hates Netflix for raised prices, going after password-sharing, cancelling shows etc.
I expect exactly the same with "cloud PCs"
The decade of work is starting to show for real. Many other tech companies have tried to break into new market "segments", but often pull the plug after the product isn't an instant hit. Valve had similar stumbles at first, but took what worked and tried to make that useful for as many people as possible.
Complete opposite of stadia, etc. which didn't really amount to anything after the initial failure.
I trust that they want my money
Well yeah but is it a bad thing in this case? I mean, one of the main reasons devs don't support Linux is because it's a small community and it doesn't seem worth the time and money to support it. It's fantastic that Valve is spending the time, resources and money to improve gaming on Linux, which is obviously a smaller market than Windows in a lot of cases. Yes, the main reason is probably because that makes their Steam Deck more viable and thus increases sales for them. But this benefits the entire Linux ecosystem, so I don't think that really matters.
No, I mean that I trust them to want to keep selling me Linux games :)
OH. Wow I feel stupid for writing that whole wall of text. 😅
It happens
I was so skeptical of staying on steamos instead of replacing it instantly with windows for the deck, but compatability has been great and relatively easy to get working for even games that aren't verified.
Big difference from when they tried the steam machines and game compatibility with Linux back then.
They learned from their mistakes and didn't try to ship something crap. Also reviews helped, in part due to the fact that Windows didn't have drivers for a while after launch.
So long as Gabe is at the helm, I'll bet they'll keep being rad. Once he's gone, though, the enshittification will undoubtedly begin.
Yeah I keep telling people to enjoy it as long as they can, cuz with Gabe I'm not worried
Valve knows better than to put all of their eggs into one basket. Microsoft has signalled that they’re slowly but steadily moving towards a Windows + Xbox walled garden ecosystem, and while we’re not there yet, it is coming and Valve know that it could kill them off when it does.