It actually does somewhat. It shows that Linux’s true size is very underestimated and that it’s more relevant than what you think.
Let’s say that there’s around 150k Roblox Linux Users total (might be more, might be less) and that 80% of them used Roblox this month. (120k users)
Now let’s look at Roblox’s Q4’22 report for investors.
Roblox claims that in Q4’22, 2.5M players joined the platform and that 13.4M players returned. That’s 15.9M total.
If 15 900 000 players is 100% of the userbase, then 120 000 Linux players is ~0.75%,
over x7.5 of what you initially claimed!
We are small, but not that small. And these are very conservative claims, there are likely twice as many as linux users as what the statistics lead us to believe, once we consider other Grapejuice sources and other ways of running Roblox altogether.
Roblox’s problem with Linux is purely a technical one. The other platforms you’re advocating for are not supported due to legal reasons. You’re comparing apples to oranges.
Roblox investing resources on basic Linux compatibility does not in any shape or form take away resources from a PlayStation or Switch release. After all, the only thing preventing Roblox from being available there are the policies of console storefronts against other storefronts inside of them.
Making a Roblox client for the PlayStation or the Switch is essentially no different from making a client for the Xbox. Since Roblox already has both a:
- Xbox client (Console controls and homogeneous platform),
- and a iOS/Android client (touch controls and ARM platform)…
…the actual engineering effort to create a client for a PlayStation/Switch target is very small. It’s in fact easier than any other platform or operating system since you can make many assumptions about the hardware where Roblox is running under.
So yeah, avoiding Linux support just because Roblox can’t get over legal issues with other platforms just doesn’t make any sense.
I’ve found many great examples from just looking at this topic and seeing the amount of relevant Roblox developers that use (or otherwise support) Linux. Just because you don’t personally know anyone (or believe they are not “relevant enough”), doesn’t mean those people don’t exist. I feel like this opinion comes off as tone-deaf, considering the overwhelmingly negative response to this topic.
I know this anecdotal, but the overwhelmingly negative response to these news clearly show there are many people (developers, players, even content creators) that are willing to completely ditch Windows if Roblox is capable of providing them the support they ask for.
It’s also worth noting that Linux’s gaming community (and beyond) has already picked up on these news. If nobody using Linux cared about Roblox, how come these news have already spread to the wider community that has nothing to do with Roblox?
Here’s three examples I can think of:
Linux might have a (relatively) small desktop userbase, but there’s a clear interest in having this platform accessible to us. I can guarantee you that if Roblox offers Linux first-class support (even if it’s just via Wine), the interest of many Linux gamers will be captured and they will try Roblox out.
If there wasn’t interest on Roblox within the Linux space, these news wouldn’t come out of this pseudo-private forum in less than a day.