Will anyone ever make a commercial game for linux?

[The Titan]

Does anyone here have any ideas on the topic? The Linux community is actually getting pretty large over the past few years with some of the mainstream distributions like Ubuntu.

I remember trying to find support on IRC chats and BB's about 10 years ago when I was first interested in Linux and had a hard time finding anything. Now there are so many people you can find such specific information it requires almost no learning curve.

That being said, I think that the community is ready for a commercial game to be developed for the platform. It may not make a ton of money at first, but because of the fact it is there the competitors will also start porting their games over to Linux as well.

Eventually it would be a leap for gaming and the Linux community. I know I keep windows around just to play my games(and use Adobe software).

Just some food for thought I guess, what do you guys think? I know i'm tired of Quake3...

[Hur Dur]

See: id Software

[Merk42]

They already make them, you can find them in the Software Center. You even mention one yourself, Quake 3.

Unless you're asking for something exclusive for Linux. I don't know of any big ones off hand because it really doesn't make sense. If you're going to make a game why not make it so it can reach a wider audience?

As much as it doesn't make sense to code a commercial game exclusively for Linux, http://www.projectbossanova.com/ seems to be doing just that.

[Random_Dude]

There are already commercial games for Linux, for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesia:_The_Dark_Descent

[debiansu]

They already have - it's called Xorg.conf :lol:

[3Miro]

10 years ago Loki games made Linux installers for some windows games. While they are not 100% native, the games ran better than anything you will even seen with wine (some games actually ran better then under Windows). At the time, there were not enough Linux users for Loki Games to stay in business, but this may not be the case anymore.

[Tibuda]

Those are commercial: http://www.penguspy.com/#/All/commercial/sort=1/view=1/limit=0

[henz103]

Games industry is about money, consoles games generate more money for developers so there are more consoles exclusive games than Windows exclusive games, and most of the games that work on Windows are ports of consoles games, and some are lazy bad ports.

Linux is not worth the effort for developers to port game to it, DirectX, cross-distro compatibility, ....


But there is already a commercial game for Linux called Heroes of Newerth http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/

[3Miro]

Games industry is about money, consoles games generate more money for developers so there are more consoles exclusive games than Windows exclusive games, and most of the games that work on Windows are ports of consoles games, and some are lazy bad ports.

Linux is not worth the effort for developers to port game to it, DirectX, cross-distro compatibility, ....


But there is already a commercial game for Linux called Heroes of Newerth http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/

You are right about the money, however, the best PC games by far surpass the consoles in quality (and profit). Look at World of Worcraft and Startaft. Dragon Age on the other hand is a great example of a game done right on both Console Controller and PC Keyboard + Mouse.

Making Linux games is no that hard either. If wine fails to play a game, it is usually because of only a couple of small deficiencies. The game manufaturers can contribute wine code that fixes those and with virtually no effort get another platform (no extra cost for making a port or extra advertisements, just sell more of the windows versions). I think this is the right way to go for Linux commersial gaming.

[matthewbpt]

Also the Humble Indie Bundles 1 and 2, and Unigine Oilrush is now preordering for Linux (gives you instant access to the latest beta when you preorder!) https://store.unigine.com/products/category/oilrush/

[Giraffemonster]

Commercial games are already being released for Linux.
Eschalon, Vendetta Online, Oil Rush, Clash of the Titans, World of Goo, all of those are commercial. And I agree, making a commercial game for linux won't make too much money at first, but eventually it will get a lot more popular. It's starting to happen, and we'll be seeing a lot more commercial games soon.