Another month gone, and another Steam Hardware Survey to take a look at. This month we have an unfortunate drop in numbers.
Linux results for March 2015
Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS 64 bit 0.28%-0.02%
Ubuntu 14.10 64 bit 0.12%-0.03%
Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca 64 bit 0.09%-0.02%
Linux 3.10 64 bit 0.08%-0.01%
Total: 0.94%-0.11%
Last Month: 1.06%
It's also interesting to note that for Linux the Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip is the most popular. Intel actually dominates the top of the GPU list it seems. My chip the powerful Nvidia 970 also looks to be quickly rising up.
My thoughts on it
It's always sad to see a decline, but we're talking about such low percentages here it's anyone's guess what happened.
It still remains to be seen how Steam Machines will be counted (if at all). On desktop operating systems you need to manually opt-in if it asks you, so will they go through that for SteamOS? I've actually shot off a message to Valve to see if they could clarify how this will be done.
Important things to remember
Be aware these results will probably not be that accurate as we don't know how they do their percentage results, they could be rounding up, rounding down or truncating the percentages. So a 0.5% could actually be nearly 0.6% as it could be 0.59% but they could do no rounding and simply truncate it.
Also remember it is a survey, so it won't ask every single one of you to do it. It would only be truly accurate if it did it behind the scenes, but that's not what a survey is for as this is just to get a general idea.
Final Note: Look at it this way, Steam has around 125 million active users, 1% of 125 million is about 1,250,000 people. What developer wouldn't want to hook into a market that's possibly that big? Of course it doesn't mean they are guaranteed that amount of sales, but it's something fun to remember.
See the Hardware Survey on Steam here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Linux results for March 2015
Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS 64 bit 0.28%-0.02%
Ubuntu 14.10 64 bit 0.12%-0.03%
Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca 64 bit 0.09%-0.02%
Linux 3.10 64 bit 0.08%-0.01%
Total: 0.94%-0.11%
Last Month: 1.06%
It's also interesting to note that for Linux the Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip is the most popular. Intel actually dominates the top of the GPU list it seems. My chip the powerful Nvidia 970 also looks to be quickly rising up.
My thoughts on it
It's always sad to see a decline, but we're talking about such low percentages here it's anyone's guess what happened.
It still remains to be seen how Steam Machines will be counted (if at all). On desktop operating systems you need to manually opt-in if it asks you, so will they go through that for SteamOS? I've actually shot off a message to Valve to see if they could clarify how this will be done.
Important things to remember
Be aware these results will probably not be that accurate as we don't know how they do their percentage results, they could be rounding up, rounding down or truncating the percentages. So a 0.5% could actually be nearly 0.6% as it could be 0.59% but they could do no rounding and simply truncate it.
Also remember it is a survey, so it won't ask every single one of you to do it. It would only be truly accurate if it did it behind the scenes, but that's not what a survey is for as this is just to get a general idea.
Final Note: Look at it this way, Steam has around 125 million active users, 1% of 125 million is about 1,250,000 people. What developer wouldn't want to hook into a market that's possibly that big? Of course it doesn't mean they are guaranteed that amount of sales, but it's something fun to remember.
See the Hardware Survey on Steam here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
I think the problem actually is most people which dualboots doesn't use steam linux ad the primary client. Valve should make an experiment launching hl3 1 month before on linux than on win. There se could cpunt the exact steamos linux clients.
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wintermute May 6, 2015
Quoting: OrkultusYeah they are doing these surveys all wrong.
Based on 125 million users, to get 95% confidence that their results are within 0.1% of the actual values they would need 953077 completed surveys, or about 0.76% of their user base each month. Put another way: a typical user would be asked to fill in a survey less frequently than once every hundred months on average.
Sample size calculator: http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm
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GTA V doesn't affect my usage at all, Pillars of Eternity got me gaming natively for a little bit, but in the end I keep going back to wine for good old Dark Souls.
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Mountain Man May 6, 2015
I still don't entirely trust the hardware survey. I've been using Steam for Linux for about 2-years, ever since it was a public beta, and I have never been asked to complete a survey while using Linux. But in that same period of time, I can recall two instances where the survey popped up when I was using Windows, which is a strange coincidence considering just how infrequently I boot into Windows these days (we're talking months between Windows logins). And I know I'm not alone since I've other people who have had the same experience. How to explain this anomaly? It makes you wonder if there's a bug in Steam for Linux that is causing it not to trigger the survey.
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I haven't had a survey pop in a long time, but then I am using Big Picture only and due to the stability of my operating system, I don't have to restart or reinstall very often - maybe that has something to do with the lack of triggering?
On the flip side, my friend reinstalled Windows on his laptop and got the survey immediately. And he didn't even fill it out. I am willing to bet that many Windows users don't bother submitting, because they're more likely to find it to be a waste of time and annoyance, whereas Linux users probably want to be counted... That's just speculation, but I believe it's very likely. And this makes our numbers even more pathetic.
On the flip side, my friend reinstalled Windows on his laptop and got the survey immediately. And he didn't even fill it out. I am willing to bet that many Windows users don't bother submitting, because they're more likely to find it to be a waste of time and annoyance, whereas Linux users probably want to be counted... That's just speculation, but I believe it's very likely. And this makes our numbers even more pathetic.
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Mountain Man May 6, 2015
Quoting: wintermuteThere's more to an accurate survey than just sample size. You need to ensure that it cuts evenly and proportionately across demographics. For instance, a political survey that polled primarily low-information Democrat voters would give a biased result regardless of sample size. This is why the reputable pollsters basically hand-pick their sample to ensure that it's representative. Valve's random, opt-in sampling is pretty much the worst way to conduct a survey.Quoting: OrkultusYeah they are doing these surveys all wrong.
Based on 125 million users, to get 95% confidence that their results are within 0.1% of the actual values they would need 953077 completed surveys, or about 0.76% of their user base each month. Put another way: a typical user would be asked to fill in a survey less frequently than once every hundred months on average.
Sample size calculator: <a href="http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="cursor:help;display:inline !important;">http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm</a>
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I agree with the above comment somewhat. This survey should always be taken with a huge truck load of salt.
The problem is that all developers we have spoken too always give us sales figures close to the survey numbers, so can the real number be that far off?
Honestly, unless everyone who dual boots for stuff like GTA suddenly did the survey on Windows it really wouldn't make that much difference.
Either way we are growing, as the total number of Steam users grows every month, so even if our % stays small or shrinks by a small amount, our overall number still grows.
The problem is that all developers we have spoken too always give us sales figures close to the survey numbers, so can the real number be that far off?
Honestly, unless everyone who dual boots for stuff like GTA suddenly did the survey on Windows it really wouldn't make that much difference.
Either way we are growing, as the total number of Steam users grows every month, so even if our % stays small or shrinks by a small amount, our overall number still grows.
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Quoting: liamdaweThe problem is that all developers we have spoken too always give us sales figures close to the survey numbers, so can the real number be that far off?
This is exactly it. There's simply no reason to doubt the numbers. They fit into the big picture perfectly.
The Linux desktop statistics, and we now talk about desktop users, not just Linux gamers, are hovering around 2.5% globally (varies a bit on what source you read, but it's roughly there).
So there's no need to doubt what the numbers tells us, no reason to scream for foul play or doubtful poll practises here - we are small. Period. That's just the sober state of fact at this point in time.
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Idc if linux is under 1%.... last week I went back to Windows because I had issues in Ubuntu Mate 14.10 with my new mobo (sound issue) and while being in Windows I just got angry at how clunky the OS is. Not to mention the issues I faced with having to unplug/plug my mouse at every boot.
I quickly installed Ubuntu Mate 15.04 and tested everything and once I got it all working again it was bye bye Windows time.
The only title I was actually playing extra on Windows was Diablo3... and I've got that working perfectly now via PlayOnLinux.
I think the Steam survey is not really accurate, I think we have a lot more Linux gamers but since people do dual boot it takes some of the count away.
I quickly installed Ubuntu Mate 15.04 and tested everything and once I got it all working again it was bye bye Windows time.
The only title I was actually playing extra on Windows was Diablo3... and I've got that working perfectly now via PlayOnLinux.
I think the Steam survey is not really accurate, I think we have a lot more Linux gamers but since people do dual boot it takes some of the count away.
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Crazy Penguin May 7, 2015
Quoting: BeamboomQuoting: liamdaweThe problem is that all developers we have spoken too always give us sales figures close to the survey numbers, so can the real number be that far off?So there's no need to doubt what the numbers tells us, no reason to scream for foul play or doubtful poll practises here - we are small. Period. That's just the sober state of fact at this point in time.
Sure, but these numbers mean that we have at least 3 times more users since the first survey. Which also tells us that the developers have 3 times the number of sales at they had before. THERE is a growth, just don't get fixated on the ~1%. Look at the numbers behind!
I scream about foul play if I get the survey on windows only. On windows it pops up. Cool! Lets start Steam on Linux ... Nothing. Back to Windows and the survey shows up. Back to Linux ... Nothing. Back to Windows again. Yeah! Survey. And so on. EVERY MONTH! Is that really fair play? Nope!
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