Well the latest Steam hardware survey is out for April and it isn't looking good again for Linux.
Here are the statistics just for Linux
Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit 0.35% -0.12%
Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS 64 bit 0.23% -0.05%
Ubuntu 12.10 0.14% -0.05%
Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS 0.14% -0.02%
Ubuntu 13.04 64 bit 0.11% +0.11%
Linux Mint 14 Nadia 64 bit 0.11% -0.02%
Linux 64 bit 0.10% -0.01%
Ubuntu Raring Ringtail (development branch) 64 bit 0.06% +0.02%
"Arch Linux" 64 bit 0.04% 0.00%
Ubuntu 13.04 0.04% +0.04%
Linux Mint 14 Nadia 0.03% -0.01%
"Fedora release 18 (Spherical Cow)" 64 bit 0.03% 0.00%
"openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64)" 64 bit 0.02% 0.00%
Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy) 64 bit 0.02% -0.01%
Linux Mint 13 Maya 64 bit 0.02% -0.01%
Ubuntu Raring Ringtail (development branch) 0.02% +0.01%
Linux 0.01% 0.00%
Linux Mint 13 Maya 0.01% 0.00%
"Manjaro Linux" 64 bit 0.01% 0.00%
"NAME=Gentoo" 64 bit 0.01% +0.01%
"Fedora release 17 (Beefy Miracle)" 64 bit 0.01% 0.00%
Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS 64 bit 0.01% 0.00%
Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS 0.01% 0.00%
elementary OS Luna 64 bit 0.01% 0.00%
"Gentoo Base System release 2.1" 64 bit 0.01% 0.00%
"openSUSE 12.2 (x86_64)" 64 bit 0.01% -0.01%
Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy) 0.00% -0.01%
"Gentoo Base System release 2.2" 64 bit 0.00% -0.01%
This Month: 1.56%
Last Month: 1.69%
So we lose another 0.13%, this is after a loss the previous month as well (see our post on last month here).
Well I was hoping we would see a rise this month but nope, another fall.
Could this be the sign of a continued trend across this year or will some high profile Valve launches like Left 4 Dead 2, DOTA2, Counter Strike:GO lift up our share? I seriously hope this doesn't continue as it won't paint a pretty picture for developers looking to Steam for Linux viability for ports.
What I really hope though is that people aren't looking too much into the survey, especially developers, the results are from a random set of users and as with all surveys it will only be a small % of users that will be asked so it could actually be missing out a vast amount of Linux users.
Update: As pointed out, you should allow for a margin of error on the Steam stats since they could be rounding up, rounding down or truncating the total stats to make it smaller.
Lastly Linux users typically shy away from any form of DRM, so you can bet there is a large bunch of Linux users who just simply refuse to use Steam. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Here are the statistics just for Linux
Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit 0.35% -0.12%
Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS 64 bit 0.23% -0.05%
Ubuntu 12.10 0.14% -0.05%
Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS 0.14% -0.02%
Ubuntu 13.04 64 bit 0.11% +0.11%
Linux Mint 14 Nadia 64 bit 0.11% -0.02%
Linux 64 bit 0.10% -0.01%
Ubuntu Raring Ringtail (development branch) 64 bit 0.06% +0.02%
"Arch Linux" 64 bit 0.04% 0.00%
Ubuntu 13.04 0.04% +0.04%
Linux Mint 14 Nadia 0.03% -0.01%
"Fedora release 18 (Spherical Cow)" 64 bit 0.03% 0.00%
"openSUSE 12.3 (x86_64)" 64 bit 0.02% 0.00%
Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy) 64 bit 0.02% -0.01%
Linux Mint 13 Maya 64 bit 0.02% -0.01%
Ubuntu Raring Ringtail (development branch) 0.02% +0.01%
Linux 0.01% 0.00%
Linux Mint 13 Maya 0.01% 0.00%
"Manjaro Linux" 64 bit 0.01% 0.00%
"NAME=Gentoo" 64 bit 0.01% +0.01%
"Fedora release 17 (Beefy Miracle)" 64 bit 0.01% 0.00%
Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS 64 bit 0.01% 0.00%
Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS 0.01% 0.00%
elementary OS Luna 64 bit 0.01% 0.00%
"Gentoo Base System release 2.1" 64 bit 0.01% 0.00%
"openSUSE 12.2 (x86_64)" 64 bit 0.01% -0.01%
Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 (wheezy) 0.00% -0.01%
"Gentoo Base System release 2.2" 64 bit 0.00% -0.01%
This Month: 1.56%
Last Month: 1.69%
So we lose another 0.13%, this is after a loss the previous month as well (see our post on last month here).
Well I was hoping we would see a rise this month but nope, another fall.
Could this be the sign of a continued trend across this year or will some high profile Valve launches like Left 4 Dead 2, DOTA2, Counter Strike:GO lift up our share? I seriously hope this doesn't continue as it won't paint a pretty picture for developers looking to Steam for Linux viability for ports.
What I really hope though is that people aren't looking too much into the survey, especially developers, the results are from a random set of users and as with all surveys it will only be a small % of users that will be asked so it could actually be missing out a vast amount of Linux users.
Update: As pointed out, you should allow for a margin of error on the Steam stats since they could be rounding up, rounding down or truncating the total stats to make it smaller.
Lastly Linux users typically shy away from any form of DRM, so you can bet there is a large bunch of Linux users who just simply refuse to use Steam. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
The comments on this article are closed.
DRM is another factor that you might not counted.
There are lot of Linux users that don't want Steam because don't like DRM.
The proof is the cold reception of the lastests HumbleBundles. I mean, the HumbleBundles that need Steam.
The Linux percentage was the worst in history.
There are lot of Linux users that don't want Steam because don't like DRM.
The proof is the cold reception of the lastests HumbleBundles. I mean, the HumbleBundles that need Steam.
The Linux percentage was the worst in history.
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Another point that should be made is percentages lie. I know people say that numbers don't lie, but that's not true because percentages do lie. For instance, the total number of linux users could be increasing month-to-month, but not as fast as growth in other areas. There could have been greater gains in the Windows or Mac spectrum that offset growth in the Linux market.
We need raw numbers to make good assumptions.
However, it also wouldn't surprise me that there are a glut of dual booting users went to check out the Linux client to see it's viability. When seeing that it's not on par with the Windows client, they went back. There most certainly some amount of users that wanted to see the Linux Client for the novelty.
We need raw numbers to make good assumptions.
However, it also wouldn't surprise me that there are a glut of dual booting users went to check out the Linux client to see it's viability. When seeing that it's not on par with the Windows client, they went back. There most certainly some amount of users that wanted to see the Linux Client for the novelty.
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Quoting: percentagesThere most certainly some amount of users that wanted to see the Linux Client for the novelty.
Or the TF2 Tux ;)
You make a good point though -- Windows 8 and OS X both had a large percentage increase and these could have been new accounts which would push the Linux percentage down (while the actual number of users remains the same).
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right now what does steam offer me as a linux user that I don't already have ?
- sure I entered all my humblebundle keys but I played all those games already or still got them installed
- games I want on steam like Legend of Grimrock because of the easy way to get the custom dungeons does not appear, so am playing that via wine.
- only close to new AAA title so far has been serious sam 3, and I loved it but beyond that there is nothing on steam that I can't get/have on desura or from a direct download page.
Once a few high profile kickstarters come out I might start using it more then now but till then I don't have the urge.
<rant>
As for the comment that X is to blame and Mir is the way to go, its a silly remark, 2 game engines (unity and unigine) show that they can run fine on X. Mir is about a unified desktop for ubuntu on different devices, and if developers will make games that only work on Mir then we will have Linux and Ubuntu, which is a bad thing for all none ubuntu users, and don't tell me to switch because I am not telling you to switch to windows.
</rant>
for the rest I agree with cheesness, its holding steady despite the fact that steam only has like 1% linux games vs windows games.
- sure I entered all my humblebundle keys but I played all those games already or still got them installed
- games I want on steam like Legend of Grimrock because of the easy way to get the custom dungeons does not appear, so am playing that via wine.
- only close to new AAA title so far has been serious sam 3, and I loved it but beyond that there is nothing on steam that I can't get/have on desura or from a direct download page.
Once a few high profile kickstarters come out I might start using it more then now but till then I don't have the urge.
<rant>
As for the comment that X is to blame and Mir is the way to go, its a silly remark, 2 game engines (unity and unigine) show that they can run fine on X. Mir is about a unified desktop for ubuntu on different devices, and if developers will make games that only work on Mir then we will have Linux and Ubuntu, which is a bad thing for all none ubuntu users, and don't tell me to switch because I am not telling you to switch to windows.
</rant>
for the rest I agree with cheesness, its holding steady despite the fact that steam only has like 1% linux games vs windows games.
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Just switched on steam and for some spooky reason was asked to do a survey despite not ever having been asked to do one in all the many many years I have used steam.
Anyway on the results page it says this :
Anyway on the results page it says this :
QuoteWhy do many of the Steam Hardware Survey numbers seem to undergo a significant change in April 2012?
There was a bug introduced into Steam's survey code several months ago that caused a bias toward older systems. Specifically, only systems that had run the survey prior to the introduction of the bug would be asked to run the survey again. This caused brand new systems to never run the survey. In March 2012, we caught the bug, causing the survey to be run on a large number of new computers, thus giving us a more accurate survey and causing some of the numbers to vary more than they normally would month-to-month. Some of the most interesting changes revealed by this correction were the [increased OS share of Windows 7 (as Vista fell below XP)](http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/#cat0),
the [rise of Intel as a graphics provider](http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/#pcvidcard) and the overall diversification of Steam worldwide (as seen in the [increase of non-English language usage, particularly Russian](http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/#cat9)).
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I want to toplay play games in linux but i have problems problems with my hybrid graphics card . Bumblebee doesn't help and the installation of the nvidia beta driver with optimus fails to install
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Cheeseness May 2, 2013
Quoting: Bumadar- only close to new AAA title so far has been serious sam 3, and I loved it but beyond that there is nothing on steam that I can't get/have on desura or from a direct download page.
What about Valve's offerings? They currently have more titles available on Steam for Linux than any other developer, and with the Team Fortress and Counter Strike franchises still having very healthy player bases, it seems like that's worth noting as appealing (though I can understand if those titles aren't of interest to you personally).
That said, as I noted in my SteamLUG post, April was definitely pretty quiet month, and I think possibly the first since Steam for Linux's launch that we hadn't seen a single Valve title released. I still run Wine to play a bunch of games, and as I said before, people are getting prompted to participate in the survey whilst not running the native client.
Quoting: RustyboltsAnyway on the results page it says this :
QuoteWhy do many of the Steam Hardware Survey numbers seem to undergo a significant change in April 2012?
Yeah, the sampling seems to be random rather than geared towards covering everybody over a 12 month period. It's easy to go missed. I've been prompted three times since that sampling bug was identified (that notice has been up on the survey results page for 12 months now).
I'm that note, I'm currently talking with someone from Valve about whether or not we can get more transparency so far as their methodology goes. I don't hold out much hope, but since the more granular survey results breaking down the Other category appeared after a conversation with the same person, there's always a possibility ^_^
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Quoting: CheesenessWhat about Valve's offerings? They currently have more titles available on Steam for Linux than any other developer, and with the Team Fortress and Counter Strike franchises still having very healthy player bases, it seems like that's worth noting as appealing (though I can understand if those titles aren't of interest to you personally).
Don't see those as new AAA titles, sorry and yes your right I don't care about them personally as I am not into online shooters :)
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Not meant as a dig at you Bumadar, but I do take a weary notice at how people's metric for AAA titles keeps getting pulled back as soon as Linux begins to approach it. There once was a time when people said all Linux needed was Valve's games in of themselves.
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Cheeseness May 4, 2013
Quoting: BumadarQuoting: CheesenessWhat about Valve's offerings? They currently have more titles available on Steam for Linux than any other developer, and with the Team Fortress and Counter Strike franchises still having very healthy player bases, it seems like that's worth noting as appealing (though I can understand if those titles aren't of interest to you personally).
Don't see those as new AAA titles, sorry and yes your right I don't care about them personally as I am not into online shooters :)
Ah, OK. I didn't realise that you were looking for both new *and* AAA.
Out of interest, what non-online (both TF and CS are playable via LAN as well, I believe) new AAA titles would you like to see on Linux?
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