Linux is holding exactly where we thought it would in the Steam Hardware Survey

It's expected that people say "despite Steam Machines...". There are currently around a million Linux gamers. In comparison PS4 and XB1 probably sold a million units in their first couple of weeks. If Steam Machines were to sell as good as PS4 and XB1 then linux share should have doubled by now and that's what people expect.

Do we have any reason to think than this will change? Exactly. That 1% won't change anytime soon, unless linux start becoming a better product for normal users, something than currently is not, even if it has the potential.
Regardless of what will happen, I will keep using it since I like to follow its progress.


Last edited by edo on 3 Dec 2015 at 1:27 am UTC

I've got no idea what Valve is trying to accomplish, but I'm still with my stupid conspiracy theory that Linux Steam Client just does not get as many surveys as the Windows Client.
The ONLY time I've ever gotten one was back 3 years ago when Steam was still in beta for linux with 2-5 games? (might be overreacting a bit)

Try changing your hardware configuration and reinstalling your OS? That always seems to (on any platform) trigger a survey post-Steam login.

Valve obviously collects mandatory data, such as how long you play a game and which OS you played it on - at least for the first week or two after purchase (but very likely it's not limited in this way). We know this for a fact, as we've been told that this is how the platform is assigned to games bought on Steam for sales purposes. And we've been told that devs can see what platform their players are using. This hardware survey should not even bother to report the OS stats, since they're very likely incorrect.

I question its usefulness in general; I suspect its purpose is to show gamedevs where the market lies, in terms of system specs. However, I'm only really seeing the OS stats being used, and it's always against Linux, since we're always so low (compared to the estimated 5+% measured elsewhere, and sometimes even higher representation in game sales figures). It IS called a HARDWARE survey, after all... Not a software survey, or a system survey. Without breaking it out further, showing what hardware Linux users specifically use, what hardware Windows users specifically use, there is no value in reporting the software side, as represented by people who are surveyed (especially considering Linux users are more likely to decline voluntarily sending data to Valve, and because we know they have undisclosed figures collected that are likely more in Linux's favor, and also how changing hardware typically triggers it - obviously it's a *hardware* survey).

The sooner we ALL stop caring what the survey results show, the better.

...and there's the question how wine users are counted; because they sure as hell are NOT windows gamers.

It doesn't matter, since they're willing to fork over their money for Windows games. There's no incentive to devs to waste time on a Linux version for those gamers, since they're paying and playing already.


Last edited by adolson on 3 Dec 2015 at 3:46 am UTC

Has there really been enough time to even expect the statistics to show initial influx in steamOS users?

I barely got my steam controller a few weeks ago, and I pre-ordered it. People are probably still just barely getting things coming in, and those surveys are few and far between.

Also, I'd imagine a lot of interested users would want to test the steam controller first to see if they even want to try gaming from their couch in the first place.
Some will get hooked on fiddling with their steam controller and start to wonder why they bother doing it in a PC chair instead of their couch, and then the steam machines might look more attractive.


Last edited by stss on 3 Dec 2015 at 3:52 am UTC

Well if you look the Steam TOP SELLER GAMES , you will understand why gamers are not getting a steam machine,and if you still didn't understand why, the question is very simple as it has been for ages...

"Why to get a steam machine or install Linux if I cant enjoy playing the newest best games?"

When the 99% of the TOP games is released exclusively for Windows and if we are lucky we may see a port after some years then this is a huge NO,for every passionate gamer.

I cant say that I Am a gamer as I used to be before years ago, I am just a casual gamer that I may spend 1h max per day for gaming, not like as I used to do before ,spending like 7-8 hours per day for gaming.
I dont care much about the newest games as I value more the benefits that Linux gives me but the same goes with the gamers.

Gamers value more their accessibility to newest games , is simple as that. They see their OS or Console as a launcher to access their games. They dont care if that is called Windows,Mac,Linux or Xbox,PS,SteamOS or whatever, as long as they can play their newest released favorite games.


Last edited by wolfyrion on 3 Dec 2015 at 4:31 am UTC

Well if you look the Steam TOP SELLER GAMES , you will understand why gamers are not getting a steam machine,and if you still didn't understand why, the question is very simple as it has been for ages...

"Why to get a steam machine or install Linux if I cant enjoy playing the newest best games?"

When the 99% of the TOP games is released exclusively for Windows and if we are lucky we may see a port after some years then this is a huge NO,for every passionate gamer.

I cant say that I Am a gamer as I used to be before years ago, I am just a casual gamer that I may spend 1h max per day for gaming, not like as I used to do before ,spending like 7-8 hours per day for gaming.
I dont care much about the newest games as I value more the benefits that Linux gives me but the same goes with the gamers.

Gamers value more their accessibility to newest games , is simple as that. They see their OS or Console as a launcher to access their games. They dont care if that is called Windows,Mac,Linux or Xbox,PS,SteamOS or whatever, as long as they can play their newest released favorite games.

I get what you're trying to say, but I don't think you can lump every Linux user into the "casual gamer" category. There are lots of us who are passionate and play lots more than you do. I own hundreds of Linux games, and it's all I play nowadays. I just don't care about what I can't play - EXACTLY the same as when I was a PS3 gamer. I didn't go buying up a 360 just because it had some games I wanted to play. I just did without, and played the snot out of my PS3. Sure, Linux might have less AAA titles, but that doesn't make the games we do have crappy ones, or only casual experiences.

Not only it's a survey, it's apparently a non-random sample biased against Linux users (there are many testimonials of people never getting those surveys on their Linux partition but getting them frequently on their Windows one), so those OS percentages are probably underestimating the true percentage.

Well, I can't complain. Gotten it on my Linux machines (no Windows available for comparisons) for maybe 6 or 7 times over the past 3 years.

Anyway, why should we see a change when allegedly there is no survey in Big Picture mode? SteamOS machines will never see a survey and never be accounted for.

Well if you look the Steam TOP SELLER GAMES , you will understand why gamers are not getting a steam machine,and if you still didn't understand why, the question is very simple as it has been for ages...

"Why to get a steam machine or install Linux if I cant enjoy playing the newest best games?"

When the 99% of the TOP games is released exclusively for Windows and if we are lucky we may see a port after some years then this is a huge NO,for every passionate gamer.

I always thought gaming is about playing games, not merely buying games. If you look at the most popular games on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/stats) I'd say that at least 50% of these titles are equally available for Linux, too.

Another reason this hasn't changed is also that I think that steam machine buyers for now are linux gamers. If you look at websites talking about steam machines, linux centered websites are the most enthusiasts by this and those players are the ones that can really benefit from them.
What would be interesting is the number of steam link and steam controllers selled and used, as I imagine people using those and thinking of buying a steam machine in the future instead of buying a new gaming computer and bothering to configure the whole thing to play on a couch. But it will take time.

Well if you look the Steam TOP SELLER GAMES , you will understand why gamers are not getting a steam machine,and if you still didn't understand why, the question is very simple as it has been for ages...

"Why to get a steam machine or install Linux if I cant enjoy playing the newest best games?"

When the 99% of the TOP games is released exclusively for Windows and if we are lucky we may see a port after some years then this is a huge NO,for every passionate gamer.

I always thought gaming is about playing games, not merely buying games. If you look at the most popular games on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/stats) I'd say that at least 50% of these titles are equally available for Linux, too.

There is not equality in games. You cant compare at a ration 50% , is the quality/game experience of the game that matters.
You may have 1500 titles on Linux but one single game that is not released for Linux maybe worth more than these titles.
I value more the gaming experience of 1 game than thousand of games.
That was the reason I was playing WoW when I was a young padawan.

There are some titles that at the current moment are TOP/trendy/newly released that most of the gamers have the urge to play them,that is what Windows can offer them.
For example Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Siege,Call of Duty®: Black Ops III,Witcher 3,Fallout 4,METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN, Gamers simply cant say no to these BIG titles.

For example Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Siege,Call of Duty®: Black Ops III,Witcher 3,Fallout 4,METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN, Gamers simply cant say no to these BIG titles.

I can.

Although I sure wouldn't mind if Witcher 3 got ported at some point. The rest of them... meh.

For example Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Siege,Call of Duty®: Black Ops III,Witcher 3,Fallout 4,METAL GEAR SOLID V: THE PHANTOM PAIN, Gamers simply cant say no to these BIG titles.

I'm missing Fallout 4 :-( and Witcher 3 is a painful wait.

I've got no idea what Valve is trying to accomplish, but I'm still with my stupid conspiracy theory that Linux Steam Client just does not get as many surveys as the Windows Client.
The ONLY time I've ever gotten one was back 3 years ago when Steam was still in beta for linux with 2-5 games? (might be overreacting a bit)

Try changing your hardware configuration and reinstalling your OS? That always seems to (on any platform) trigger a survey post-Steam login.

This theory looks to be not correct :) I am on STEAM since 2004. Last week I switched from MacOS (MBP) to Ubuntu with brand new PC - not survey yet. Anyhow it is impressive for me, how huge progress made linux and linux gaming in last 2 years.

I don't really get the point of "surveys" for a platform that already collects tons of information about its users (up to behavioral patterns like how long people play certain games, what types of games and so on). Doesn't Steam know exactly how many people run it on Linux? Unless they don't really collect such information and it's an opt-in.


Last edited by Shmerl on 3 Dec 2015 at 6:21 pm UTC

I'm missing Fallout 4 :-( and Witcher 3 is a painful wait.

I have Fallout 4 and a whopping 2 hours played on it. Meanwhile I have 247 hours in on Ark all under Linux.

We're only about a year in on seeing a massive amount of good titles having been released on Linux. The game engines and dev tools for Linux are improving daily and now we have a stable Linux OS and controller for game devs to target. Before they had to install Ubuntu on a machine and test, now they can just buy a couple Steam Machines for QA.

Game support is only going to improve.

I'm not expecting a huge jump in market share but a change that couldn't get overwhelmed by a rounding error would be nice. Has there been any change since the advent of Steam Machines that goes beyond normal month-to-month fluctuations?

And, I might add, that, although Mac users are 3.64X the number of Linux users, 3.64% isn't exactly a huge number of Steam users either compared to Windows users.

In the last few weeks I have;

Installed a new GFX card
Upgraded to Ubuntu 15.10
Doubled my RAM
Bought a steam controller

No survey....

I do wonder though if running a benchmark like HL2 Lost Coast updates the stats?

I always thought gaming is about playing games, not merely buying games. If you look at the most popular games on Steam (http://store.steampowered.com/stats) I'd say that at least 50% of these titles are equally available for Linux, too.

According to SteamDB, the current "Most Played Games" are:

1. Dota 2 *
2. Counter-Strike: Go *
3. Fallout 4
4. Team Fortress 2 *
5. Warframe
5. Civilization 5 *
6. ARK: Survival Evolved *
7. Garry's Mod *
8. Skyrim
9. Football Manager 2016 *

Note that the (*) denotes Linux versions are available. That's 7 out of 9. Also, keep in mind that Valve is making ridiculous amounts of money from Dota 2. The current players are 297,975 compared to 114,050 for Fallout 4. And we know people in Dota 2 are spending money, whereas Fallout 4 spending pretty much stops after purchase. Even if all Valve ever accomplishes with Steam Machines is to convince half of their Dota 2 subscribers to use SteamOS, that would be a huge win.