> have Linux binaries

In January, HumlbeBundle removed Linux support from their Trove [1].

HumbleBundle support points out that it's not simple [2]:

> While it is entirely possible to install and run games and programs from the Linux GUI, implementation across distros can be wildly different. For this reason, this guide will explain how to install and launch games using the Terminal.

And, usually, only a small list of distributions are supported, like Ubuntu or Mint. For example, Bundle 9 [3].

All of the above seems to supports the "cumbersomeness argument for Linux games".

1. https://kotaku.com/latest-humble-bundle-change-leaves-mac-li...

2. https://support.humblebundle.com/hc/en-us/articles/219377857...

3. https://support.humblebundle.com/hc/en-us/articles/115011722...

Humbe Bundle has been focusing on profit only and ignoring their original values ever since it has been sold to IGN. It's not surprising that they would cut support for something only a small percentage of their users use (remember, they are primarily a Steam key reseller now). That has nothing to do with Linux support being cumbersome just with any OS support benefiting from economies of scale that makes minority platforms less lucrative.

The irony is, Linux users Were the highest paying customers before the transfer to IGN.

Their contribution easily made up to half of all sales money wise.

Reference? For Steam, Linux gaming just broke 1% this year [1]. I don't see how that math could work.

1. https://www.phoronix.com/news/Steam-Survey-January-2022

When they were publishing pie charts and made you fill a little questionnaire every time you buy a bundle, the stats showed that Linux users always paid a little more than the average, and this exponentially added up causing Linux users to pay a much greater sum at the end of the bundle, in terms of total money spent.

I'm not sure I can find the charts now (they were live and per bundle), but I track Humble since day 1. I remember it well.

Some of the earlier Humble Bundles had Linux users contributing about ¼ of the funds but I don't think it was ever higher than that. [0] These early bundles were also before Steam for Linux was a thing so were a major source of new Linux ports (relative to the number of available native games).

[0] https://cheesetalks.net/humble/

> In January, HumlbeBundle removed Linux support from their Trove [1].

Yet, I have downloaded all new builds for a couple of games for amd64 from one of their oldest bundles.

It's not as clear cut as it seems.

> I can accept and respect not creating Linux builds as engineering (using Windows only APIs, libraries, etc.) and business (not enough market) decisions..

Yep, and if somebody made your game work under Wine/Proton or Bottles/Heroic, just pay them to support it or create an AppImage/Flatpak and that's the easiest way to get compatibility.

Basically game developers never once booted linux.

They'd need to do some learning and don't want to. They might have superficially read something about distributions and think that a software cannot run on two different distributions.

I've read this excuse time and time again. And saying it tells me that the person never actually tried to compile anything on linux.

On the contrary, they are more that used to POSIX stacks on macOS, iOS, PlayStation, Nintendo, Android, ChromeOS....

Yet porting to GNU/Linux is not worthwhile.

I kindly disagree with you. Most of the platform provided by a console is nicely abstracted with SDKs. The code they touch is the SDK which provides direct, and tailored access to utilities and capabilities provided by the platform itself.

Even the Linux binaries of then AAA titles are ported by some talented developers, sometimes out of the studio.

I remember porting of Unreal Tournament to Linux was an official effort, but a work of a single guy.

So, I don't expect studio-wide POSIX knowledge on game studios.

The point was that even with lower barriers there is no economic interest in doing the work.

So, it's as I said. The hurdle is not technical. The studios just don't prefer, and I'm OK with that.

It is hard to prefer something that usually don't provide profits.

Are you really surprised the consumer market isn't buying a product that doesn't exist?

macos? The same OS which decided no more 32bit binaries because of reasons? The same OS which decided no more opengl because of reasons? That OS?

No gamer uses that OS. If you think it's hard on linux, it's much harder on osx.

android is not posix, that is completely hidden from the developer.

chromeos is just linux + google tracking.

consoles are a complete separate world.

Please let's try to have a serious conversation. Game developers that use frameworks such as unreal are often unaware of how the underlying system works.

>No gamer uses that OS. If you think it's hard on linux, it's much harder on osx.

You are conflating "gamer" with "game developer". Don't forget that millions of game devs successfully build and launch games for iOS.

>consoles are a complete separate world.

The PS4 is literally FreeBSD.

> Don't forget that millions of game devs successfully build and launch games for iOS.

With XCode, and tons of visual tools which abstract the OS and device to a great extent, making it almost invisible.

> The PS4 is literally FreeBSD.

Which is also shipped with nice SDKs for everything and anyhting related to PS4.

Same can be applied to GNU/Linux and most studios just don't care.

Yeah, instead of SDL + OpenGL/Vulkan, game studios use DirectX + NVIDIA Game Works, which provides a nice, cozy walled garden and vendor lock-in.

Win-Win for Microsoft and NVIDIA.

Again, it's just market powers and path of least resistance. It's not technical.

Of course it is not technical, there is no money to be made for most game studios.

You want me to believe on ios it never happens that apple breaks support for older software Like they do all the time on computers?

It happens, but there is an economic advantage in putting up with such breakages, while on GNU/Linux systems that money bag isn't there to keep game studios interested other than testing waters and running away afterwards.

Yes of course there is: reselling the same game over and over.

Game developers...