Valve looking to recruit Linux experts?

[Chris D]

i386dx has contacted us with an article which suggests Valve may be looking to recruit Linux experts to address "a bunch of performance issues in Linux drivers". The full quote is below:

We are running into a bunch of performance issues in Linux drivers (e.g. 50 millisecond draw calls because the driver is compiling a shader).

We'd like to hire someone to work on these performance issues. If you know of anyone we should be talking to, I'd appreciate getting connected with them.

Gabe Newell
Valve, Bellevue

You can see the original article here. I originally thought this was a fake, but @michaellarabel later posted proof after he himself had contacted his sources at Valve to ensure the e-mail was genuine. And yes, I can confirm that those e-mail headers are genuine and match that of an e-mail I recently received from Valve.

So what does all of this mean? The e-mail suggests they're looking for help to make games run smoother on Linux. If Valve are porting their existing titles to Linux then that could indicate that Valve are looking to expand the Steam Play service to include Linux which would also mean a Linux version of Steam is in the works.

We'll keep a close eye on this one.

 

[ríomhaire]

Games is pretty much the only reason don't use Linux. That said, even if Valve port all their games I still won't be able to play the majority of my games on Linux.

 

[-smash-]

Makes sense, seeing how Microsoft is starting to close of its Windows platform starting with Windows 8.