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Linux Port For id's Tech 5 Graphics Engine Unlikely

Posted by Soulskill on from the sounds-like-they-need-some-encouragement dept.

DesiVideoGamer writes "John Carmack, the lead developer for id's Tech 5 graphics engine, does not plan on making a Linux port for the new engine. From his e-mail: 'It isn't out of the question, but I don't think we will be able to justify the work. If there are hundreds of thousands of Linux users playing Quake Live when we are done with Rage, that would certainly influence our decision.' One of the reasons for not making a Linux port was due to the fact that the new engine 'pushes a lot of paths that are not usually optimized' and that the Linux port would have to use the binary blob graphics driver in order to work."

1 of 461 comments (clear)

  1. The last big indie lost their independence after a by slux · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Sad. I guess when they told us the Zenimax deal didn't affect their independence in any way they were "forgetting" some details. So, probably no more Linux ports, no more GPLing of older engines. I guess they gave the control to the suits. The reasoning doesn't sound very solid either, it's assuming that the only reason for anyone ever to run linux is that all of it is free software. I don't disagree with that being a very good reason but it's definitely not the only one. The same poor argument could be used for not doing a Mac port. And I thought anyone trying to run cutting edge games on Linux had to use the Nvidia driver anyway, Doom 3 didn't work too well on ATI when it came out anyway, did it?