The Real Reason Steam Is Coming To Linux

It’s something that’s confused people: why is Steam, after all these years, finally coming to Linux? Is it just a fun hobby for Valve while they continue to monkey with us about “Half-Life 3″? Do they want to sell a few thousand more copies of “Left 4 Dead 2″? What?

Gee, could it be because Android is built on Linux and there are over a quarter of a billion Android phones out there?

It kind of baffles us that nobody has really pointed this out or realized that this is where Valve is heading. Because, really, duh. True, porting to Linux is not the same as porting to Android, but it’s a valuable first step, and the fact that Canonical is building Ubuntu for Android is likely not lost on Valve.

Increasingly, high-end smartphones come with the oomph to run classic PC games and more casual modern ones. It’s hard to believe Valve, especially faced with the rise of casual gaming, doesn’t see some serious potential in that market, especially as tablets overwhelm laptops.

But this seems to have largely eluded the gaming and tech press. And we have to wonder why.

image courtesy Valve