No Steam For Linux

Aug 23, 2010

Doug Lombardi puts the rumor to rest.

A few months back we wrote about some discoveries the good folks at Phoronix found that indicated Valve might be toying with the idea of bringing Steam to LInux platforms. Phoronix's own Michael Larabel discovered fresh Linux code in a bash script launcher in the Steam beta, which allowed for speculation aplenty.

But after a few months of hopes, rumors, and outright falsehoods, Valve has finally weighed in on the rumor, officially and with total certainty: It's not going to happen.

Via a GameIndustry.biz interview, Valve Marketing VP Doug Lombardi stated, "There's no Linux version that we're working on right now."

Sorry Penguins. For now you'll have to make due using Wine, playing open source games, or [gasp] sticking with a proprietary platform.

Related content

Comments

  • No Steam For Linux

    I bet you anything, that microsoft is behind this. I bet they heard it was happening, and payed Valve to stop, and keep their mouth shut about it. I mean look at the last thing they said "Oh we are not currently working on a Linux client" No explanation about what they had in their code for that Mac OSX bash script. No info on if they had been trying to before. Nothing. They just said "we aren't doing it". So im thinking either two things. These large game programmer's are just money hungry, and dont want to give the linux gamer society a chance to pay for their software (which i would, on many games). Or Microsoft is up to something. I know they are afraid of Linux getting ahead. Just think. If linux was able to play every windows game, and run things like (ive found this to be a big reason why people dont switch) Quicken, people would switch, because they would have an Operating system that is totally free, and really reliable when it comes to being safe from spyware, viruses, and malware.

    Microsoft needs to stop. As well with their little DRM having to do with netflix. Ha!

    -Chuck-

  • Well how about this

    I know I'm commenting on a very old article, but if they weren't working on it then, it doesn't mean they won't.

    Check this out:

    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.
    ...
    * Port Windows-based games to the Linux platform.

    http://www.valvesoftware.com/job-SenSoftEngineer.html

  • Well

    Valve employees are nothing but a bunch of F*ing republicans anyways..

  • Let's not speculate too much

    Maybe it means just that - maybe they're done WORKING on it and are now just testing, maybe they were doing it but development is on hold temporarily.

    A few things are important to understand:
    1) there's probably some strict limits as to what this guy is allowed to say
    2) they probably want somewhat of an element of surprise
    3) they probably won't release it until they get someone to put some Linux games on there, or port/create some of their own
    4) they're probably running into some of the issues associated with porting. Sound is frequently touted as the most difficult aspect to figure out (there is no one standard library, whereas with Windows there's always DirectSound, and Mac probably has its own standard library though I don't know what it might be called).

    The last one has got to be the biggest one. One of the best features of Steam is that it facilitates voice chat. Voice chat is a great addition, and many consider it an absolute necessity for some of the games.

    Once they figure out a good way to handle 4 (if they haven't already) I'm sure it'll be no time before they release a beta version.

  • Reply to Jacob Barkdull

    @Jacob Barkdull Aug 24, 2010 2:47am GMT
    "Well, that's just fine and dandy. We don't need anymore proprietary software infesting our Free Software operating systems. Until Steam is liberated I strongly oppose its port to GNU+Linux."

    Why would you say that? It's not like you'd be forced to use it, or have it "infest" your system. Some of us might like the choice to have it on our systems.

  • suckers..

    If they don't want more potential customers, it's just not very smart.

  • No steam for linux? whoa. not so fast.

    Let's not jump to conclusions here, or twist what's said into something totally different. What the main said was "There's no Linux version that we're working on right now.". OK, Plenty of wiggle room in that statement.

    Nowhere in that statement do I see "It's not going to happen".

    That having been said, I don't feel much love for steam right now, and if they shrivel up and die, metaphorically speaking, I won't shed any tears.

  • Fine

    Well, that's just fine and dandy. We don't need anymore proprietary software infesting our Free Software operating systems. Until Steam is liberated I strongly oppose its port to GNU+Linux.
comments powered by Disqus
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters

Support Our Work

Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Desktop Events Hardware Linux Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source