Valve CEO: Why Linux is the future of gaming

I can't help but be cynical that Gabe is placing too much faith in the willingness of users to switch operating systems so easily over a relatively short period of time. I can see Linux gaining a lot of traction within 10 years time, but 5 years is a bit crazy. The Steam Box will hopefully be subsidized a lot so people will be more inclined to buy, but I doubt it'll be all that popular since its video game lineup is pretty small at the moment, especially in regards to AAA games.

 

Fingers crossed that he's right, my body is ready for that day.

I would switch to Linux in a heartbeat if every game I owned was compatible with it. Unfortunately that isn't the case so I'll be sticking with Windows.

I think Valve are greatly overselling PC gamers' willingness to sacrifice compatibility as part of a feeble attempt to build interest in the Linux-based Steam Box concept. Console gamers are used to losing backwards compatibility with almost every new generation, but only because that sacrifice is offset by the guaranteed availability of ports of all the latest shiny games. Linux has hardly any support from the major developers.

 

Wine isn't going to be a viable DIY alternative for the new generation since it doesn't fully support DirectX 10 or later (which is quickly becoming the minimum standard).

 

I don't know what sort of price point they're aiming for with the Steam Box, but remember to mentally add another $100 USD to make it fully usable.

One of the great things about PC gaming is backwards compatibility. Changing to Linux would force some very painful obsolescence that console gamers go through with every generation, but hopefully that only has to happen once.

Normally I would immidiatelly say "bullshit!" but Microsoft said that they dont plan to make Dx12 and we already have a lot of mainstream games on MAC which dont use Dx so they are using  OpenGL which is on linux too. Linux could be easily be next platform for PC gaming since Windows is abandoning his good old path and its trying to be another MAC, more stupid-friendly for the most casual consumer.