Ryan Gordon is a “God” in the Linux Gaming world. He used to work at Loki in the early 2000s, porting with other bright folks Windows AAA games for Linux way before Steam even existed. After Loki went bankrupt, he worked on many ports for the Humble Bundle and Steam, and has now become a renowned expert on how to do porting right. He gave an excellent interview very recently on the Linux Action Show, and it’s well worth watching.
By the way I’d recommend you check out his resume, it’s quite impressive really. Among other things, he worked on the following Linux ports: Left 4 Dead 2, Google Earth, Prey, Psychonauts, Dungeon Defenders, Braid, Limbo, Goat Simulator, and many more… He’s the “go-to” person when you consider Linux ports nowadays (kind of like PtitSeb on the Pandora). Enjoy his interview:
What’s interesting is that he remains very pragmatic and says he does not know whether the Steam Machines will be a success or not, even though he believes in the platform. Valve is certainly betting a lot on this since Apple and WIndows are turning into Walled Gardens progressively, and therefore porting games on Linux has become an integral part of their strategy to make the platform work. You can check out my previous articles on the subject as well.
That will make for an interesting year 2015.
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2 Comments on "Ryan Gordon’s View on Linux Gaming"
Steam and SteamOS is also a walled garden. Once that linux users, with eyes sparkled by the promise of AAA games have sadly accepted with open arms.
Ryan Gordon addresses that point in his talk. First, the OS itself is not a walled garden. Second, Ryan pushed for companies to open up their code when it comes to games, and he there are more and more examples of companies who are indeed receptive to this. Third, games are not stuff that you need to live or make a living with, as a user. It’s way more important than other key applications or software is kept in the open than games.