So is Steam coming to Linux or not?

[Thaidog]

I heard that Steam is now not coming to Linux. I can not find anything that says that it is not however. Does anyone here know what is happening with the Linux Steam engine?

[deanjo]

I heard that Steam is now not coming to Linux. I can not find anything that says that it is not however. Does anyone here know what is happening with the Linux Steam engine?

I'm afraid that was a product of overzealous wishful thinking. It's been pretty much proven that all the files in question were related to the server side of things and not a client.

[Saist]

I wouldn't be so sure deanjo. Valve isn't stupid, and they are out to make a profit. Many their independent developers are already selling Linux versions of games available on the Steam network, and there is pressure from that development side to get a Linux client out the door to simplify distribution costs.

Valve seems to understand the basic market concept that the more people you have to sell to, the more people are going to buy your product. Okay, lets say that the Linux market is only 30million desktops...

by comparison the Wii, which is the best selling console, only just passed the 50million graphics chip mark, although the actual number of units in use is probably less than half the chips shipped.

The Xbox 360, once you account for the massive amounts of failed units, has a user penetration about equal to, or less, than the Playstation's ~17million penetration.

A successful game on a console, one that is considered to have gone platinum, only has to sell one million units. Most average games tend to have sales in the 200,000 - 500,000 mark. That's 1 in every 17 or so console gamers have to pick up a game for it to be considered a good success.

To get the same sales on Linux, even using the worst base number, Valve only has to sell to 1 in 30 users to reach the magical platinum mark.

If you use the more widely accepted 50million+ numbers, the ratios are even more favorable to producing successful games.

Again, Valve ain't stupid. Crazy? yes. Insane? yes. Stupid? No.

The potential Linux market, if they can tap it right, is too large to pass up. Steam will be coming to Linux. When? That's anybody's guess.

[deanjo]

I wouldn't be so sure deanjo. Valve isn't stupid, and they are out to make a profit. Many their independent developers are already selling Linux versions of games available on the Steam network, and there is pressure from that development side to get a Linux client out the door to simplify distribution costs.

Valve seems to understand the basic market concept that the more people you have to sell to, the more people are going to buy your product. Okay, lets say that the Linux market is only 30million desktops...

by comparison the Wii, which is the best selling console, only just passed the 50million graphics chip mark, although the actual number of units in use is probably less than half the chips shipped.

The Xbox 360, once you account for the massive amounts of failed units, has a user penetration about equal to, or less, than the Playstation's ~17million penetration.

A successful game on a console, one that is considered to have gone platinum, only has to sell one million units. Most average games tend to have sales in the 200,000 - 500,000 mark. That's 1 in every 17 or so console gamers have to pick up a game for it to be considered a good success.

To get the same sales on Linux, even using the worst base number, Valve only has to sell to 1 in 30 users to reach the magical platinum mark.

If you use the more widely accepted 50million+ numbers, the ratios are even more favorable to producing successful games.

Again, Valve ain't stupid. Crazy? yes. Insane? yes. Stupid? No.

The potential Linux market, if they can tap it right, is too large to pass up. Steam will be coming to Linux. When? That's anybody's guess.

You can manipulate numbers however you want it's all 100% pure speculation. Comparing to a console sorry just does not fly. Trying to use numbers from a dedicated system and then using that to compare the numbers on a general purpose platform has no direct correlation at all. What game publishers do see however is other attempts trying and failing such as the most recent victim Eve Online. Your right Valve is not stupid, that's why they won't bother with a linux steam client.

[Thaidog]

Well whatever their position I think they should let the community know... especially with all the news that they are indeed coming posted by legitimate IT news sites... if they are not going to release it they should make a public statement on the subject.

[deanjo]

Well whatever their position I think they should let the community know... especially with all the news that they are indeed coming posted by legitimate IT news sites... if they are not going to release it they should make a public statement on the subject.

Other then articles linking tp phoronix, where else have you even seen this mentioned?

[Thaidog]

Other then articles linking tp phoronix, where else have you even seen this mentioned?

It all over Valve forums and Tom's Hardware.

"Valve is looking into ways to expand its Steam engine beyond the 15 million users it already has: The company said wants to hire a senior software engineer that would serve as "lead engineer and architect on product integration into the highly available digital distribution platform software developed by Valve".

Translated into plain English, we are talking about a guy that would port Windows-based games to the Linux and possibly Mac OS X platform: Steam is coming to Linux and Source games are first in line."

Just google: valve steam engine linux

[deanjo]

It all over Valve forums and Tom's Hardware.

"Valve is looking into ways to expand its Steam engine beyond the 15 million users it already has: The company said wants to hire a senior software engineer that would serve as "lead engineer and architect on product integration into the highly available digital distribution platform software developed by Valve".

Translated into plain English, we are talking about a guy that would port Windows-based games to the Linux and possibly Mac OS X platform: Steam is coming to Linux and Source games are first in line."

Just google: valve steam engine linux

Did you bother checking the link in the articles? It links right back to Phoronix. Those articles link right back.

Here is the EXACT job description, which by the way has yet to be filled:

http://www.valvesoftware.com/img/arrow.gif Senior Software Engineer

Description
Lead engineer and architect on product integration into the highly available digital distribution platform called "Steam". Utilize business/commerce background and engineering skills to drive next generation features for software developed by Valve.

Responsibilities
http://www.valvesoftware.com/img/blacksquare.gif Develop an understanding of Valve's Internet business and player community and contribute creative web-focused design solutions to improve the experience of using Valve's products
http://www.valvesoftware.com/img/blacksquare.gif Manage the operation of large clusters of machines running both Windows and Linux in a highly available system.
http://www.valvesoftware.com/img/blacksquare.gif Utilize knowledge of networking technologies and their appropriate use in large scale digital distribution systems and gaming platforms.
http://www.valvesoftware.com/img/blacksquare.gif Port Windows-based games to the Linux platform.
http://www.valvesoftware.com/img/blacksquare.gif Test, document, and maintain large scale networking installations and their assorted protocols
http://www.valvesoftware.com/img/blacksquare.gif oversee and implement quality assurance of applications in house and third party games distributed on Steam™

Required Qualifications
http://www.valvesoftware.com/img/blacksquare.gif Bachelor in Systems Engineering (or equivalent).
http://www.valvesoftware.com/img/blacksquare.gif Requires two years of experience in systems engineering designing and developing communications software and hardware solutions including resolving problems surrounding real-time and non real time PC- based systems using C++ and network programming algorithms and their interaction with physical devices.


That description screams of a delivery system on the server side (see the reference to the large scale networking and large clusters which has nothing to do with a steam client). The "Port Windows-based games to the Linux platform." also indicates the porting of the game server not the client. Had it been porting of a client you would have seen requirements of knowledge in openGL, SDL, openAL, etc etc. The qualifications are all on the networking side.

[niniendowarrior]

Yawn. I'm done googling this and reading forum posts. I'll believe it when I see it.

[Thaidog]

Did you bother checking the link in the articles? It links right back to Phoronix. Those articles link right back.

Here is the EXACT job description, which by the way has yet to be filled:



That description screams of a delivery system on the server side (see the reference to the large scale networking and large clusters which has nothing to do with a steam client). The "Port Windows-based games to the Linux platform." also indicates the porting of the game server not the client. Had it been porting of a client you would have seen requirements of knowledge in openGL, SDL, openAL, etc etc. The qualifications are all on the networking side.

Well that is a little bit strange how they put that... no wonder everybody thinks it going to happen. I'm going to call Valve and find out what I can tomorrow. I'm working on a gaming platform for Linux and I need to know what they are really saying.

[Dragonlord]

What's that for a platform?

EDIT: By the way... WTF is this new ad stuff in here? DON'T FUMBLE WITH MY POSTS, GOT IT?!!! >.=.<

[Thaidog]

What's that for a platform?

EDIT: By the way... WTF is this new ad stuff in here? DON'T FUMBLE WITH MY POSTS, GOT IT?!!! >.=.<

LinuxDNA.com

We're making a high performance kernel for gaming amoung otther projects.

[hybridr6]

ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/sabayonlinux/other/Steam%20for%20linux/

I have not tried it, but it's interesting none the less.

[hybridr6]

ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/sabayonlinux/other/Steam%20for%20linux/

I have not tried it, but it's interesting none the less.

[Dragonlord]

Ah okay... so it's a kernel not a "platform" like Steam or alike. Already though... :D

[Thaidog]

Ah okay... so it's a kernel not a "platform" like Steam or alike. Already though... :D

Yeah we're only the kernel (and some system code) but we're working with Dream Linux to make a Linux that works with Atom cpu netbooks:

Hak5.org

But we want to make a Linux specifically for gaming also.

[Thaidog]

ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/sabayonlinux/other/Steam%20for%20linux/

I have not tried it, but it's interesting none the less.

I'm a little scared to download that... looks like warez or something. Can't screw up my devel rig to test!

What are those supposed to be?

[Aradreth]

I'm a little scared to download that... looks like warez or something. Can't screw up my devel rig to test!

What are those supposed to be?

# Copyright 1999-2007 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/games-server/halflife-steam/halflife-steam-2.0.ebuild,v 1.12 2007/03/12 17:56:25 genone Exp $

inherit eutils games

DESCRIPTION="client for Valve Software's Steam content delivery program"
HOMEPAGE="http://www.steampowered.com/"
SRC_URI="http://www.steampowered.com/download/hldsupdatetool.bin"

LICENSE="ValveServer"

I'd say the server bits of steam...

[deanjo]

I'm a little scared to download that... looks like warez or something. Can't screw up my devel rig to test!

What are those supposed to be?

That's an old abandoned attempt that has been around since 2003.

http://www.fileplanet.com/126568/120000/fileinfo/Steam-v2.0-Beta-Client-%5BLinux%5D

[Dragonlord]

# Copyright 1999-2007 Gentoo Foundation
# Distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License v2
# $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo-x86/games-server/halflife-steam/halflife-steam-2.0.ebuild,v 1.12 2007/03/12 17:56:25 genone Exp $

inherit eutils games

DESCRIPTION="client for Valve Software's Steam content delivery program"
HOMEPAGE="http://www.steampowered.com/"
SRC_URI="http://www.steampowered.com/download/hldsupdatetool.bin"

LICENSE="ValveServer"

I'd say the server bits of steam...
It's used to run a source server on Linux. It just provides the means to download the files needed ( including the server binaries ). No client in there... it's sort of the client for the server ;)

[Thaidog]

What about this article:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=steam_confirmation&num=1

[Aradreth]

What about this article:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=steam_confirmation&num=1
It was never actually confirmed as Valve never said "We're making a linux client" it was just Michael making an assumption, which apparently was wrong.

[r0ck]

Actually at least RunningWithScissors who are currently making Postal 3 are very well working on a Source client for Linux. I asked them whether there would be an actual Linux Source engine and other Source titles for the platform and their reply was:

"we are definately working towards this! keep in touch!"

Postal 3 is said to be launched with a working Source Linux engine and I can't think of any way Valve WOULDN'T put Steam in there. In the end Steam is the easiest part of porting those games.

[Svartalf]

Considering that Vince Desi's not one to make statements he can't back up, I'm thinking the odds are even right at the moment that we're going to see at least Postal3 on Linux, leaving it open for other Source ports to be possible.

[r0ck]

Considering that Vince Desi's not one to make statements he can't back up, I'm thinking the odds are even right at the moment that we're going to see at least Postal3 on Linux, leaving it open for other Source ports to be possible.

My theory goes like this: RWS isn't capable or interested in porting the Source engine by themselves for a single game. Therefore Valve (who were already proceeding with a port) offered them a win-win situation. Both Valve and RWS port the Source engine cooperatively (which gives them additional feedback by implementing an entirely new game Postal 3). Then Valve gets back the rights to use Source Linux code and they would be foolish to NOT release their other games once Steam and Source both run on Linux.

It wasn't Mr. Desiderio btw. it was Mike Jaret-Schachter who told me this but it only confirms what earlier interviews had already promised.