OK, forgive the pun, but this is actually a pretty big deal.
Gabe Newell has not been shy about his dislike of Windows 8. And there have been problems with the platform from a gaming perspective, including the ridiculous ban on games rated Mature by the ESRB in the Windows Store due to somebody at Microsoft misunderstanding the nuances of PEGI 18.
Valve has supposedly been working on Steam for Linux for years, but we’re just now seeing the first fruits of those labors… and those fruits are ripening surprisingly fast, to torture a metaphor.
The public beta of Steam for Linux launched this month. Now they’ve got another beta going on at the Ubuntu Developer’s Summit, and this one features not just Valve games but also a third-party game, Serious Sam 3.
As I’ve mentioned before, Steam for Linux is likely a stepping stone to Valve’s ultimate goal, Steam for Android. This isn’t a big secret, especially since the majority of streaming boxes are built on Android, and Steam is making an aggressive push to be in your living room.
But the tricky part has always been getting third-party developers on board. It seems like Windows 8 is motivating at least some companies to take a look at this whole Linux thingamajigger.
The big question is, who can Valve get on board?