Linux Users Better Than Windows Users At Reporting Bugs: Game Dev
An Indie game developer posted some interesting insights on Linux users find more bugs than Windows users. Kodera Software is known for releasing a game called ΔV: Rings of Saturn, which was in early access for two years. All early access games have many bugs, but surprisingly Linux users that made 5.8% of the userbase reported 38% of the bugs.
This is more of a feel-good story for supporters of the OS. Despite being such a minority, the Linux community has proven once again it is very developer-friendly. Releasing games on Linux has been quite a debatable topic for many games studios. This is due to the open-source OS being a pretty small portion of the gaming market. However, in this case, it seems Kodera’s decision to support it has been more than beneficial.
Linux user better than Windows Users
According to the developer, he sold a little over 12,000 units of the game. Out of which, only 700 (5.8%) were bought by Linux players. He got a total of 1040 bug reports, out of which roughly 400 were by Linux players.
“That’s one report per 11.5 users on average and one report per 1.75 Linux players. That’s right, an average Linux player will get you 650% more bug reports. A lot of extra work for just 5.8% of extra units, right?”
Many may think that the bugs might be related to the platform, but the developer further clarifies that out of the 400 reports, only three were platform-specific. He believes it is due to the OS being open-source software with its community functions that Linux users are better at finding bugs. He even compares them to free Quality Assurance (QA) checkers, which companies hire separately.
“The thing is, the Linux community is exceptionally well trained in reporting bugs. That is just the open-source way. This 5.8% of players found 38% of all the bugs that affected everyone. Just like having your own 700-person strong QA team. That was not 38% extra work for me, that was just free QA!”
Game developer, Kodera
According to an Indie game developer, Linux users are better at reporting bugs in games than Windows users and act as free Quality Assurance (QA) checkers.
