On August 9, Rust developer Garry Newman wrote a blog talking about potential plans for the long neglected Linux client for their open-world survival game. In the blog, Newman talks about how he and the team could have done more to support the client, even if he says their support "might have been above average."
He goes on to say that the Linux version had "become more popular with the cheating community." However, even with performance and anti-cheat improvements coming soon to the Windows version, a Linux build just wouldn't work with their anti-cheat solution. As a result, it would become an even bigger target for cheaters. Newman even goes on to show that in the past month, there were only 217 Linux players in Rust. This is compared to the 2,414 using MacOS and the nearly 228,000 using Windows.
In that previous blog, the future of the Linux client for Rust was still somewhat up in the air. This weekend, Newman announced that they have decided to kill off Linux support for Rust. While this is unfortunate to hear, Newman says that they are going to offer full refunds to everyone that wants to get one that has played Rust on Linux. It doesn't matter how much or how little you have played already. He even suggests getting a refund even if you don't want one because you can just put that money towards another game that has better Linux support.
Details about the decision and the refund eligibility can be found below. It must be noted that the Linux version of the Rust Dedicated Server will continue to receive updates as normal.
No more Linux Client
Our previous plan was to make a separate Linux build that would have meant that the Linux guys wouldn't have been able to play with the Windows/Mac guys.
We thought this would have been a good solution because it would have given the game on Linux some stability and meant it could still be played.
After listening to the Linux community over the past week we now realise how shit that would be. So we've decided that it would be better if we stop shipping a Linux client all together and offer refunds.
Hold Your Horses
Valve need to do some work on their back end to test for refund eligibility - so if you request a refund right now it will likely get rejected. I'll make another post when it's available but they're optimistic that it will be ready by the time we pull the plug (September 5th).
Steam has a limited history of whether you've run the Linux version or not - so to guarantee that you'll show up as eligible I'd recommend you run Rust on Linux at least once right now.
Eligibility
So our rules on eligibility for refunds:
If you have no intention of playing Rust again you should refund. You can use that money to buy a game from a developer that supports Linux well - this is the best thing you can do to help your community.
Our previous plan was to make a separate Linux build that would have meant that the Linux guys wouldn't have been able to play with the Windows/Mac guys.
We thought this would have been a good solution because it would have given the game on Linux some stability and meant it could still be played.
After listening to the Linux community over the past week we now realise how shit that would be. So we've decided that it would be better if we stop shipping a Linux client all together and offer refunds.
Hold Your Horses
Valve need to do some work on their back end to test for refund eligibility - so if you request a refund right now it will likely get rejected. I'll make another post when it's available but they're optimistic that it will be ready by the time we pull the plug (September 5th).
Steam has a limited history of whether you've run the Linux version or not - so to guarantee that you'll show up as eligible I'd recommend you run Rust on Linux at least once right now.
Eligibility
So our rules on eligibility for refunds:
- Should have played at least once on Linux
- Hours played are irrelevant
- We don't care if you've played on Windows too
If you have no intention of playing Rust again you should refund. You can use that money to buy a game from a developer that supports Linux well - this is the best thing you can do to help your community.
