Besides, I doubt Linux users would be happy about paying $100+ for a game if translated to normal game prices ($50-$60 or so).
> I imagine the development costs to port a title to Linux are fairly substantial as well
If you target OpenGL instead of a proprietary MS platform then there is no porting (or little porting). Existing games don't have the luxury of choice, but new ones do.
(I have ignored things like differing sound APIs, but not a huge upfront cost if you simply intend to be cross-platform from day #1)
> Besides, I doubt Linux users would be happy about paying $100+ for a game if translated to normal game prices ($50-$60 or so).
Well yeah, if you just jack up the price on the Linux game and leave the rest at $50-60 of course they won't be happy. The point is that people say Linux users won't pay for software, and that's clearly false.
Assuming a game is written using portable technologies (OpenGL, GLSL, cg, OpenAL, SDL), I doubt that porting it would be difficult. Obviously, a game which uses Direct3D, MFC, embeds IE, etc, will be a different matter.
Though, I expect the mac port will make things work better on linux (in wine)
On top of this, I would bet that they have so many Linux contributors precisely because no-one releases AAA games to Linux, so their sample size is disproportionately represented by Linux users.
On top of this, I would bet that they have so many Linux
contributors precisely because no-one releases AAA games
to Linux, so their sample size is disproportionately
represented by Linux users.
Interesting thoughts: 1. Age distributions: My guess would be that a linux demographic would have a much different age distribution than the windows user. If a 10yo is trying to dl the package he might be susceptible to paying less. 2. Gender distribution etc.
Point: There are so many things going on here, it's hard to draw clear conclusions from the numbers we're getting.