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Linux user share remains above macOS in the latest Steam Survey (www.gamingonlinux.com)
submitted 10 months ago by petsoi@discuss.tchncs.de to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world
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[-] BitingChaos@lemmy.world 58 points 10 months ago

Despite having so many game offerings over the years, it REALLY feels like Apple has still spent 30+ years shitting on games and gamers. They want games and gamers to conform to THEIR rules instead of them catering to games and gamers.

I have a $4000 Mac with top-of-the-line hardware that requires that I use emulators or virtualization if I want to play games. I have a bunch of legit "macOS-native" games on Steam that I cannot play because they are 32-bit. OpenGL was also scrapped, and with it any chance of several games that could have been updated to 64-bit. Apple will tell you that those are old and depreciated technologies. Well, guess what, it doesn't fucking matter.

Meanwhile Microsoft and Linux developers have spent the same 30 years catering to games and gamers, trying to ensure everything under the sun keeps working, regardless of how old it is.

Pretty much any Win32 app from the past 30 years still works on Windows, and Steam on Linux has made it dead-simple to load many Windows games as easily as if they were Linux games.

I'm glad Linux surpassed macOS. I hope it keeps growing. It will be better for everyone when it catches up to Windows, as well.

[-] jayandp@sh.itjust.works 8 points 10 months ago

It's gonna be funny if people start dual-booting Linux on Mac in the future because they get better game support with the reverse engineered Linux GPU drivers.

[-] angrymouse@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

They want games and gamers to conform to THEIR rules

But they do it in literally everything. Keyboard layout, window management, graphic api, hardware, peripherals, browser api on ios, and the list goes on. Dont get me wrong, I totally hate apple for this, but if in 2023 you expect something different from them, I think it is on you

[-] helloharu@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Completely agree with you on all of this, but I do think Apple are making moves to change this by working with developers on the Metal API. However that’s only forward facing rather than looking at “legacy” support for games. My problem is their focus on mobile first gaming rather than any of their other hardware.

As much as I like Apple products, I’m please Linux is finding its place in gaming. Something had to start giving Microsoft some competition somewhere.

[-] Molecular0079@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

I don't think forcing already over-worked game developers into supporting yet another rendering API is going to win them any bonus points though. Apple's insistence on Metal is very strange and a total reinvention of the wheel on both sides.

[-] helloharu@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago

another rendering API

A assuming you mean Vulkan, but did you know Metal is older than Vulkan by 2 years? It's hardly a reinvention of the wheel from Apple here. Plus it allows them to give complete low level support of their own silicon and hardware that you're likely to not yet with other APIs. A lot of developers also use MolktonVK to get around that support.

[-] Molecular0079@lemmy.world 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

did you know Metal is older than Vulkan by 2 years?

Did you know that Vulkan started out as Mantle which predated Metal by half a year? Anyways, the time of release doesn't really matter. What matters is whether its a graphics standard. Instead of adopting standards and creating a better developer experience for everybody, Apple chooses to go their own way...again. That's the reinvention I am referring to and it causes a trickle down effect that affects everybody else. It's extra work on Apple developers and game devs alike.

Plus it allows them to give complete low level support of their own silicon and hardware that you're likely to not yet with other APIs.

No reason why they can't be done via Vulkan extensions IMHO. Also, I am okay with them having Metal for such purposes...as long as they also support Vulkan and other standards. The problem is that they don't.

A lot of developers also use MolktonVK to get around that support.

MoltenVK is just another example of the extra work that everybody else has to do to support Apple's platform.

[-] YaBoyMax@programming.dev 2 points 10 months ago

With specific regard to OpenGL, GL 4.1 is still supported on the latest version of macOS afaik. It was asinine that they deprecated it, but I'm not aware of any reason it would preclude a 64-bit port of a game that previously worked in x86 mode.

[-] Privatepower42@fosstodon.org 1 points 10 months ago

@BitingChaos @petsoi this is why valve or some other true Linux laptop need to come in the game. Steam deck proves that Linux can be fun and useful. It’s hard finding a gaming laptop that can be used for all day work like school or whatever.

[-] muhyb@programming.dev 1 points 10 months ago

Even if games update to 64-bit, Steam still has 32-bit libraries and won't run on Mac.

[-] Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 10 months ago

Steam on macOS is 64bit only. Valve had to, else they couldn't run on recent macOS.

[-] muhyb@programming.dev 1 points 10 months ago

Interesting. Though at least the ARM ones cannot run x86 architecture anyway (out of the box unless Apple did something).

[-] MyFairJulia@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago

My copy of Sims Castaway Stories and my multi-disc games like SimCity 4 and Need for Speed Underground 2 beg to differ.

[-] BackOnMyBS@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

I think it's part of their style. A considerable portion of Apple owners use Apple products for the social look. I have heard many people say they like Apple because it's the fancy luxurious phone/computer which makes the owner/user seem more fancy and cool. The blue bubble is a social indicator to them. Computer games are for nerds. I don't agree with any of that, but I have known people that do.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 10 points 10 months ago

Eh, I've known plenty of artsy people who use macOS who also play games, but they tend to play more casually. You don't buy a Mac to play games, but that doesn't mean they don't like to play games.

[-] GreenMario@lemm.ee 9 points 10 months ago

Ditching x86 was the big huge reason I think, that and shitty 3D support.

[-] FinalBoy1975@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

This means something that has been true since before OS X was invented (circa 1990-ish) that hasn't changed. Wanna game on the puter? Mac ain't it. Mac never been it. Apple actually provides hardware that is gaming able. They don't want to cater to gamers. They could do this easily and sell so many heavy duty desktop towers now. Why won't they? They'd have to UN-propriatary themselves.

[-] ono@lemmy.ca 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

This means something that has been true since before OS X was invented (circa 1990-ish) that hasn’t changed.

No, it doesn't. Linux was always behind OSX on this survey. It only changed very recently, and because these survey results fluctuate from month to month, it wasn't clear that it would remain this way.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/08/linux-overtakes-macos-users-on-steam-thanks-to-steam-deck/

https://steamdeckhq.com/news/linux-overtakes-macos-in-steam-hardware-survey/

https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/pc-gaming/mac-is-relegated-to-third-place-thanks-to-the-steam-deck

https://hothardware.com/news/linux-beats-mac-steam-survey-radeon-rx-7900-xtx-cameo

https://www.pcgamesn.com/steam-deck/linux-beats-macOS

this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
189 points (96.1% liked)

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