Decreasing revenue from Fortnite. W11 and AI HW scarcity pushing people to Linux, and Steam having a 100% monopoly in the space. And unofficial clients already make it work but prevent Epic from getting purchases. Plus people using unreal for production might want linux support for the asset part of the store.
When all your tooling and engines support Linux but you keep it off your own products due to spite or whatever, eventually the business case wins out.
It’s not causing a dent, but releasing your game on the platform can boost your revenue. Linux lacks bug multiplayer games, the first to market will benefit the most.
And yet it was somehow enough for us to get Fortnite on Linux before GTA 6. I know people are sick of that meme, but I genuinely can't believe that actually happened.
Even in that case tbh with you I don't think there's a large crossover between people who use Linux and people who want to play Fortnite, given the former is targeted at kids with their parents credit cards that Epic can rinse.
Lots of people play Fortnite. Before they giga-nuked the movement into what it is today and started catering to the no build crowd way too much, it was one of my favorite games all time. Building and editing is one of the most fun and engaging video game mechanics I have ever played with. I'm on Linux now, so I can't even login and run boxfights to satisfy my itch, so this is a welcome change for me.
Also, Fortnite isn't the only game on EAC either, this will open up a lot more games than just Fortnite.
I don't think most people actually understand how many people have already switched. More and more PC gamers in general are being made every day so the pool is always getting bigger.
Then there's the fact that when that has been happening the whole time Linux has been growing in percentage despite the millions of win10/11 chinese computer cafe PCs get added in the steam survey every month.
People think 2% is only 1% more than the 1% back when it was measured same with every climb after even though that is far from the truth.
Even if we include the millions of windows only chinese computer cafe machines that aren't actual users that keep getting added that's an increase in active in-game accounts of 45% between 2022 (which is when Linux gaming became realistically viable in my opinion and when I converted my gaming PC) and now.
That means a 4% now would be a 5.8% back then. People are moving and it's been clear for a while now.
lol, the most Reddit take ever. Outside of Reddit, people are not switching to Linux because of one thing they dislike about Windows 11 or because of hardware prices. They’ll complain but continue to use Windows 11 because installing an operating system sounds too complicated for them, especially when their apps they use aren’t supported without configuration (or at all).
Fortnite is also as popular as ever, especially when they took a Roblox approach to their gamemodes
Outside of Reddit, people are not switching to Linux [...]
True but incomplete. Of course my perspective is 100% biased - my friends and family know I'm "a Linux guy"; but in the last 18-12 months I have had more normies coming to me asking about Linux and recommendations than at any other point in my history with Linux (started in 2004 or so). Now, tbf, I did NOT recommend it to any of them for various reasons (one depends on CAD professionally and it is hard to make CATIA play nice, another plays Riots' games, two live for Faceit, people addicted to the apple ecosystem, and etc., always some blocking feature I can't provide alternatives [I've given LibreOffice and only office to many people on windows and it was more than successful enough, while I also have two actuary friends to whom I wouldn't even think of dissing Excel]).
So the sample I have of normies that is biased because of who I am is that more people have been considering Linux than ever before, even if "most" of them don't switch (or any/all)
I think for a regular home user, with mainstream gaming support on Linux, most of the barriers have more or less evaporated.
Linux is easy to install with most distros, it supports games, most mainstream programs (browser, video chat, office, etc) is supported. Plus with more and more tools moving to a browser version instead of a desktop app, this erodes Windows edge further.
For a professional user who depends on specific software, it heavily depends on what work they do and whether their software suite is supported and how well.
Plus anyone who isn't anything more than a casual gamer is more likely to go and buy a Mac than they are to switch to Linux.
Outside of gamers, power users and maybe the elderly no one really gives a shit about what MS is doing to Windows and even then most of them don't care enough to switch.
This reminds me of people saying that "Oh, normal people won't ever resort to piracy because it's too complicated for them" which completely ignores how big applications like Kazaa and Limewire were back in the day.
If there's enough of a want/need to switch, people will figure it out via googling for how-tos and asking their more technically knowledgeable friends. As someone who often is the technically knowledgeable friend I can say I've had a fair few of my friends ask me about the best way to go about switching, asking which distros I consider best, etc. Even had my techie-but-very-burnt-out aunt talk about switching over after seeing CachyOS on my HTPC the other week because Windows has been requiring too much troubleshooting as of late for her tastes while Linux can act as a "start it up and it works" OS if you pick the right distro. (She used to work at IBM and way back when, worked on the Lindows project. Got completely sick of the tech industry and has a laptop but prefers to think about the technical side of things as little as possible)
I have a boatload of claimed free games on egs that I use Heroic on linux to play them. Of course I wouldn't ever consider paying for a game on egs, this is what steam is for. I feel like a lot of other people and especially linux users are on the same boat.
Of course I wouldn't ever consider paying for a game on egs, this is what steam is for. I feel like a lot of other people and especially linux users are on the same boat.
Why? I'm very thankful for the investment Valve has made into Linux, proton is remarkable, the SteamDeck was great, etc. But as a consumer why would I never consider buying a game from huge inhumane corp A and only patron huge inhumane corp B?
I truly believe most Linux users aren't bootlickers one way or another, and when the super yacht addict is responsible for lootboxes and child gambling, hates letting people truly own what they bought, has some predatory tactics to "de-centivize" devs from doing promos or sometimes even publishing elsewhere, and the alternative comes knocking offering at least a better revenue split from the sales but also being staunchly against item marketplace even to the detriment of their revenue (imagine Fortnite with a market like CS2's...) But with an unshakeable addiction to micro (macro) transactions, FOMO, battle passes, temporary checkins benefits, a very inferior product (egs client vs steam client - but steam also is chromium garbage) a love for AI slop, hate for Linux, and so on...
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u/TeutonJon78 21h ago edited 20h ago
Decreasing revenue from Fortnite. W11 and AI HW scarcity pushing people to Linux, and Steam having a 100% monopoly in the space. And unofficial clients already make it work but prevent Epic from getting purchases. Plus people using unreal for production might want linux support for the asset part of the store.
When all your tooling and engines support Linux but you keep it off your own products due to spite or whatever, eventually the business case wins out.