yeah, and mac too, can't run league or valorant. vanguard is their kernel-level anticheat, and windows is like 95% of their market and the difficulty of implementing it on another kernel i guess isn't worth the <5%.
League works on macOS just fine, I played yesterday. Vanguard is buggy (it occasionally quits the client after I finish a game), but the game generally works and has for at least several years.
Why would it be a "bold move"? Linux gaming population is damn near zero, they do not provide a higher profit margin like mac gamers would, and the documented evidence is that supporting Linux users is obnoxious because they are rude and entitled but not actually that much better at providing feedback.
Epic Games bought out rocket league and turned off a native linux build and faced no repercussions. Instead they made plenty of money.
Not sure that's fair, given most Linux gamers look like Windows gamers to the metrics.
That said, devices like the SteamDeck run games on Linux (and that's without considering that every Android game ever is technically running on Linux too).
Let's face it though, PC gaming is already small enough these vs the consoles, that further splitting the marked isn't going to make sense for a lot of companies.
>Not sure that's fair, given most Linux gamers look like Windows gamers to the metrics.
No. All the articles and testimony of game devs abandoning native Linux versions is from well before Proton was a thing, including Epic Games buying Rocket League and preventing you from playing the Native Linux build they had.
It also was not related to anti-cheat or underlying engine limitations or anything. Developers were clear that the problem was the massive lack of uptake mixed with a weirdly entitled community.
Personally I don't think gamers are entitled. Ultimately games are anywhere between 60 - 120 dollars and often barely work on their target platforms. With kernel level anticheat, you're literally being asked to pay them to rootkit your computer with software you cannot audit.
The last 10 years of AAA gaming have been an absolute shit show. The only people who seem to be even trying are Nintendo. Everyone else releases stuff that's buggy as hell and about as fun as a dental cleaning.
It's bold because it's breaking stuff that already works and will continue to work even if you do nothing.
It's one thing to choose not to develop a new game for Linux. It's another to take a game that already runs on Linux and intentionally break it. You're guaranteed to alienate SOME people who are already fans of the game.
