But for consoles, there is an expectation that the number will grow exponentially in the next 2-3 years, and that cycle has been validated many times over, over the span of multiple decades.
This is gen.1 for Linux gaming, and I think consumers have the right to be apprehensive about the future growth of the platform. Catch 22 I guess.
This really isn't anything like Gen 1 for Linux gaming. People have been buying and playing games on Linux using Wine for years. That's been a pretty small market, but it has existed for a while.
Another thing is that Linux is a significant contender in the developer workstation market. I'm typing this right now on a Linux machine that I use for just about everything, including as a development server and a television. The only reason I haven't played any games from Steam on it is they haven't released Portal yet.
Oh don't get me wrong, I'd absolutely love to have gaming become mainstream on Linux. I just built my first Linux box this week after 20+ years on Windows and Mac OS and I'm loving the amount of control I have (being a newbie I have my fair share of hair-pull moments, but that's part of the fun imo). I'm just a little bit apprehensive about dev studio adoption.
Linux has far, far, far more developers than it has "game development studios", currently writing software for it. The Independent Gaming scene is ripe with great stuff that will run on Linux from day one - and it doesn't just need 'mainstream studios' to get the industry kicked off.
This is a ripe as any other boom market.
As an Open Pandora user, I'm amused at this whole fuss about whether "its acceptable" for mainstream companies to produce stuff for the Linux market. Of course its wonderful, there is no downside whatsoever to the rising star of Linux gaming, whether it comes from Steam or somewhere else (http://repo.openpandora.org/).
The only possible downside is that an expanding and flourishing Linux gaming market will reveal the fragility of Microsoft in this scene. You don't need Windows technology to game awesome; you only need Windows technology because you've been told you need it by higher powers. Technologically: no.
So why the apprehension, really? Is it really something you've got concern about, or is this some sort of groupthink/kneejerk thing going on?
You've got a valid point there, but with Unity 3D being ported over to Linux (granted, it was back in June '12), it should kick off Linux adoption among game devs sooner rather than later.
This is gen.1 for Linux gaming, and I think consumers have the right to be apprehensive about the future growth of the platform. Catch 22 I guess.