SteamOS vs SteamPlay?

[linuxgnuru]

I’ve noticed a ton of games that show “SteamPlay” but are windows / mac only; is the OS icons/descriptions a lie or am I missing something?

Case in point:

The Wolf Among Us

http://store.steampowered.com/app/250320/

so, can we not trust SteamPlay to actually mean Linux games?

[strider]

Gosh, I see so many people confused by this, I wish Valve did something about it.

SteamPlay means you can play the game on every platform its been released on without having to buy it again.
SteamPlay applies to every single Steam game released on more than one platform, except for one Call of Duty game.
SteamPlay does not mean that the game is available on Linux, it could be available just for OSX.

[linuxgnuru]

so basically there is no way of knowing if a game is for Linux or not just by the icons if you hover over the game? fucking hell.

[dwest68]

I think basically if you have the Steam OS logo (the piston after Apple logo), then the game has a bona-fide Linux version.

Exhibit A:

Originally Valve was using a “Tux” icon, however now that Steam OS is a thing it’s been replaced by the piston.

[strider]

Exactly, the Steam logo represents SteamOS support. The thing is, the SteamOS logo is always followed by the SteamPlay logo, so people associate those two together when they shouldn’t.
IMO, the logos are enough to convey what SteamPlay means. For that single Call of Duty game, it would be possible to have only a Windows logo on one version and only an Apple logo on the other.

[Pedro Mateus]

strider wrote:

SteamPlay applies to every single Steam game released on more than one platform, except for one Call of Duty game.

And the early GTAs, as well. The Mac and Windows versions of those are also separate.

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