April 4th, 2012 | By Chris Priestman
Tagged in: evidence | linux game | steam | valve
Perhaps you shouldn’t get your hopes up, but then again, this seems to be pretty solid evidence that Steam is making its way to Linux very soon.
Indie developers and their games have been kind to Linux gamers, which is an often neglected platform, especially by the AAA side of the industry. They returned the favor by consistently being the highest contributors to the Humble Bundle which gave Linux gamers many new titles for them to try out, for example. Now, it seems that the penguin gamers will be treated to Steam in the near future.
What’s the evidence then? Well, a Reddit user has posted an image of an email conversation with Valve about porting the Source Engine to Linux which seems to be real and solid confirmation. Here’s the image for your viewing pleasure:
Why would we be interested in this though? Well, recently we discussed the idea that Valve were looking to make many big changes to Steam, ones that were to be focused on the needs of indie developers and like we just mentioned, Linux gaming is mostly catered for by indie developers. So, if more indie games will be on their way to Steam (hopefully) then it’s surely very good news to know that they will be able to make their games available to Windows, Mac and now Linux on the same platform.
That’s not to mention the benefit this will have to the many indie game bundles which will also be able to cater to the very generous people of Linux even easier if this was to happen! Let’s just hope that this means it really is on the way along with many more indie friendly changes to Valve’s digital distribution platform.
Chris Priestman (1508 posts)
Valuing gameplay and innovation over everything, Chris has a keen eye for the most obscure titles unknown to man and gets a buzz from finding fantastic games that are not getting enough love. Chris Priestman, Editor-in-Chief of IGM Email: chrispriestman@indiegamemag.com Twitter: @CPriestman