this post was submitted on 06 May 2026
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Because a lot of indie games don't come to consoles (or at least Xbox — I see a lot of Steam/PlayStation releases or Steam/Switch releases).
I see a ton of cool indie games I'd love to play, but I can't because they require Windows. I don't think a game should be able to be called indie if it requires you to use Windows (or macOS, what I use), exclusively. Like if you're "independent" of Windows (macOS or Linux) or "independent" of Apple (Windows or Linux), they should be making their game available to you. That means, of course, supporting all three platforms. Linux and macOS are both based on UNIX (if you go back far enough). Switch and Mac use the same CPU architecture (ARM64). Linux has the best handheld support. And Windows has the biggest install base. So it's really worth it to support all four of those. And then Xbox and PlayStation use the same architecture as PC gaming, x86-64 with a GPU. So it's really all connected and, unless one platform is sponsoring the game somehow (at which point, it isn't indie), no platform's players should be left out. JMO
"Indie" doesn't refer to independence from a platform, it's supposed to mean independently published (in other artistic industries, this has become slightly muddled as "indie" is more of an aesthetic these days). The fact that these games are directly supported on one platform over others is a symptom of being indie more than anything, as a large publisher would require support on multiple platforms to ensure maximum market penetration.
Also, proton is incredible these days, so windows lock in isn't as much of a thing anymore.
Are you really demanding that the studios with the lowest budgets should use their budget to support multiple platforms?
Linux support has never been better! Proton is amazing, to the point the Steam people are suggesting developers to just develop for windows.
Take a look at https://www.protondb.com/ I have found 1 indie game so far which was not working
Most indie games work fine on Linux. MacOS is just an exceptionally poor platform for gaming.
If you have an x86 cpu Mac, install Linux, use steam/proton and you can play pretty much any indie Windows game out there. Or you can just install Windows. If you have an Apple cpu Mac, there are still tools out there you can use to play the game.
You can't fault Indie devs who have a day job for not wanting to spend time supporting a ton of different platforms (AAA, is a different story)
You're only about 10 years too late for anyone to give a single crap about native linux
Proton's a little more recent than that. I still remember the bad old days of Steam on Linux from 2013-2017 where Proton didn't exist yet, and running the Windows version of Steam through WINE was a PITA. Heck, Proton didn't really start to get good until about 2021.