[johnnyanmac]

>I don't really care how it works, just that I don't have to run Windows.

you don't have to care, but pretending you're not beholden to Windows and how it decides to develop its future versions is exactly my point. Microsoft isn't making Windows 12 or maybe even Windows Cloud 2035 with WINE compatibility in mind. It's a ticking time bomb and I hope Linux gamers have a contingency plan if/when the bomb goes off.

[jakobson14]

It *doesn't matter* wtf windows does in the future. you don't have to run it, you're not beholden to it.

Once a game works on wine it will continue to work FOREVER. Steam controls the update process so there's nothing microsoft can do to break it.

Beyond that, I don't give a shit. If I can't make a new game work on my steam deck, I won't buy it, and that's clearly where valve (who still control most of the windows gaming market) are pushing things.

[johnnyanmac]

>Once a game works on wine it will continue to work FOREVER

Sure, once a game works. I'm thinking about the future. And unfortuantely that future is bound by Microsoft's whims. Valve doesn't control window and that's what most games target.

>If I can't make a new game work on my steam deck, I won't buy it

that's fine, 97% of the market will. Valve isn't going to be hurting by this. They won't give a shit either, just default back to the status quo.

[jakobson14]

Valve has the steamdeck, a successful product in a market all it's own that runs exclusively on linux. Want your game to run well on it? Target linux.

They would never have gotten to the point of selling thousands of linux devices without wine to make their existing catalog work.

>Valve isn't going to be hurting by this. They won't give a shit either, just default back to the status quo.

You might not know this, but the steam deck is the culmination of over 15 years of work by VALVe to become independent of microsoft. They recognize the threat of living on someone else's OS and they've been working on that threat for very a long time.

Valve tried *exactly* your plan (bribing devs to care about a non-existent market) ten years ago with the Steam Machines, and it failed miserably. Their investment into WINE and the development of the steamdeck is the result of the lessons you refuse to accept.

[johnnyanmac]

>They would never have gotten to the point of selling thousands of linux devices without wine to make their existing catalog work

Sure. But they never HAD to sell linux devices to begin with. I wonder how many PC's valve would had sold if they took Sony's old "Gaming on the Go" marketing and actually pulled it off.

I'm glad they didn't go that route, but food for thought.

>They recognize the threat of living on someone else's OS and they've been working on that threat for very a long time.

Yup, they have backup plans. And when the plans petered out from Microsoft (thankfully) Valve relaxed. I unfortunately still see other looming threats, but those threats aren't as catastrophic as what came before. So I understand if Valve does not care as long as they can keep their software on Windows.

>Their investment into WINE and the development of the steamdeck is the result of the lessons you refuse to accept.

My solution doesn't involve hardware so I'm not sure what you're getting at. All I'm saying is "make it not a pain to port to linux, and incentivize devs to do it" and you make it sound like I'm trying to launch my own console.

Linux runs on pretty much any and everything, so I don't care too much about taking the Nintendo route and providing exclusive blockbuster titles to pull users into my own walled garden. That boat sailed before I was born; even Valve can't do that today (despite doing that 20 years ago when they made games) and I won't pretend to pursue that venture myself.

Fortunately that is not the only way to gain market share these days, so I'll take advantage of alternative methods.

[cassianoleal]

Current games that work on current Windows versions shouldn't suddenly start to become a problem. Future games would for a while have to support current/older versions of Windows, so those shouldn't become a problem for a while either.

Hopefully when/if it becomes a problem, there will be enough Linux gamers for Linux to be a real consideration, even if this consideration is no more than targetting a specific version of WINE or Proton.

[johnnyanmac]

>Hopefully when/if it becomes a problem, there will be enough Linux gamers for Linux to be a real consideration, even if this consideration is no more than targetting a specific version of WINE or Proton.

Hopefully. Microsoft has been really good with Backwards compatibility on both their PC and gaming console, so that's probably part of why people don't seem to worry as much about this. But if they were ever going to do their equivalent of Python 3, or even go as far as a new architecture like Apple... it sounds like rough times on Linux due to a dependency that (IMO) shouldn't have existed.

[yjftsjthsd-h]

> Microsoft isn't making Windows 12 or maybe even Windows Cloud 2035 with WINE compatibility in mind.

WINE started out targeting Windows 3.x, survived MS in its most blatantly anti-competitive form, and has not merely survived but vastly improved over the ensuing 30 years. Maybe Windows compat is a time-bomb, but eventually you gotta live your life.

[johnnyanmac]

>Maybe Windows compat is a time-bomb, but eventually you gotta live your life.

I still need to use windows for professional work so it's not like I'd be dead in the water. But as someone who wants to strive to keep as much ownership over my software as possible, and wants to ensure users own their own software... WINE doesn't sit well with me.

Others may not care, and that's fine. But I have already made it a part of my professional career to care about little things like that.

[overcast]

Ticking time bomb? We're still talking about gaming right?

[johnnyanmac]

Microsoft is a game studio/publisher as well as an OS maintainer. So technically, yes.