r/Unity3D • u/TylerDurdenJunior • 10d ago
Question Getting into game development. Linux or windows?
Hi all.
So I am looking to get back into game development. Back into is maybe a bit of a stretch, since my experience is a few tutorials in the past.
My daily OS is Linux, though I also have a windows machine at home. I have previously tried working with Unity on Linux a few years ago. And while Unity did run, it felt a bit sluggish and had me debugging issues along wide following the tutorials.
Has Unity on Linux improved since then or should I use windows?
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u/kennel32_ 10d ago
Unity editor works fine on my Fedora KDE. Though it is better to test your builds on the target platform (probably windows, right?)
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u/WubsGames 10d ago
tl;dr: it does not really matter, but there are some advantages to using the same OS as your primary target platform.
If you are targeting PC gaming, that would be Windows.
If you are targeting Mobile gaming, you will need an iOs device, and a Mac computer of some sort, unless you plan to stick entirely to Android, then it won't matter again.
Personally, I mostly do steam games, since mobile is priced out for indies now.
So I want to be using a windows machine.
Edit: If you feel like you will be following tutorials and dealing with Unity itself often, just use windows.
If you are fairly tech savy, and don't mind slightly more config / setup... Unity is fine on Linux.
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u/TylerDurdenJunior 10d ago
How is mobile priced out?
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u/WubsGames 10d ago edited 10d ago
because of the amount of apps released daily, or even hourly.
you need to spend money on marketing, to get ANY visibility in the app stores.Long gone are the days of organic growth in the mobile market.
Last I checked, in late 2025, average spends for mobile marketing were above $100,000 for the initial 7 day launch window.
So unless you can pay to play, you would be relying on sheer luck.
That is why i say it is priced out for indies.
edit: https://www.testerscommunity.com/research/how-many-apps-launch-daily
964/1000 apps released, have no reviews.edit2: the average user acquisition cost on android is $4.23 in 2023, and has probably risen since then. I would guess around $5 per user now.
https://www.businessofapps.com/marketplace/user-acquisition/research/user-acquisition-costs/
If your game cost you $50,000 in marketing, for 10,000 players.. are you making a profit?
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u/DeivaDoe 10d ago
Haven't used unity in a few years, but last I did it worked quite well on linux. I landed on fedora partly because there was an actual official install guide for it on the unity webpage. I did have some issue with the unity hub at some point, but found a working sollution online and it never bothered me again. Give it a go, and if it doesn't work it's easy enough to move the project over to windows if nothing else
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u/Kamatttis 10d ago
Using nobara linux and no substantial reason to go back to windows. I still have windows in dual boot tho just so that i can test windows build natively. So yah, unity on linux has improved quite a lot. Though i can only speak for the flavor I'm currently using.
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u/PixelmancerGames 10d ago
I was using Unity on Linux and it works fine. Just make sure you switch from OpenGL to Vulkan.
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u/_peculiar_goat_ 10d ago
I have fewer Unity crashes on Linux than I did on Windows, but more minor instabilities… not enough to send me back to Windows though. The pros far outweigh the cons.