The latest Steam Hardware Survey is out, and as usual some websites are claiming the death of SteamOS. We are here with a better outlook.
February 2016
Linux: 0.91% - 0.04%
If you only take the latest stats at face value alone, you are of course going to see articles containing things like this:
Source - I actually like a lot of PC World's stuff, but this article needed a little more research which I hope they do in future.
There's some key things here that people just aren't covering (or they just aren't aware which is possible).
- The first and most important thing is that SteamOS and Steam Big Picture just don't show a survey, and that's a fact we actually covered.
- Linking into that above fact, for all we know a bunch of people are now using a SteamOS machine rather than their desktop for gaming (or the PC linked to their TV now uses SteamOS rather than another distribution which is what I did), so they aren't tracked at all by this survey. I might have even been one of them, since I use mine regularly.
- The third important thing to remember is that the Steam user-base is constantly growing, and at a rather decent pace too. This growth in general means that even if the Linux percentage on Steam is shown as slightly lower it's actually bigger overall. It's just that Steam's growth is outpacing Linux growth by itself to show a positive uptake on the Steam Hardware Survey.
I would also like to just point out in general, that the percentages we are talking about here are so low it could even be put down to statistical anomalies. We're not only talking below 1% here, we're talking a 0.04% drop over last month, that's a tiny percentage.
Honestly, I think Valve are starting to do more damage month after month having the Operating System (software) in a Hardware survey. I wish they would do something to fix this. It's a hardware survey after all, and you can trigger it easily with a change of hardware or operating system so it's not a great measure to use. How many of you have said about seeing it in Wine, or booting into Windows to see it pop up? I see lots of comments on that.
Linux is actually doing quite well overall looking at the games we have gained, and the games we will be getting. We also have Vulkan coming along which could offer a performance boost for the heavier games.
We also now have well over 1900 games available on Steam for Linux and that number is growing at a great pace. We have Feral Interactive about to announce what looks like two titles too, here and here.
You can also see on SteamDB how many games are likely to come to Linux in future too (quite a lot), and that's only games that have bits stored on Steam. Plenty of games still manage to hide from it before release.
So remember to stay strong, and keep buying those Linux games. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
February 2016
Linux: 0.91% - 0.04%
If you only take the latest stats at face value alone, you are of course going to see articles containing things like this:
PC WorldValve's considerable efforts on behalf of Linux-based gaming just aren't paying off.
Source - I actually like a lot of PC World's stuff, but this article needed a little more research which I hope they do in future.
There's some key things here that people just aren't covering (or they just aren't aware which is possible).
- The first and most important thing is that SteamOS and Steam Big Picture just don't show a survey, and that's a fact we actually covered.
- Linking into that above fact, for all we know a bunch of people are now using a SteamOS machine rather than their desktop for gaming (or the PC linked to their TV now uses SteamOS rather than another distribution which is what I did), so they aren't tracked at all by this survey. I might have even been one of them, since I use mine regularly.
- The third important thing to remember is that the Steam user-base is constantly growing, and at a rather decent pace too. This growth in general means that even if the Linux percentage on Steam is shown as slightly lower it's actually bigger overall. It's just that Steam's growth is outpacing Linux growth by itself to show a positive uptake on the Steam Hardware Survey.
I would also like to just point out in general, that the percentages we are talking about here are so low it could even be put down to statistical anomalies. We're not only talking below 1% here, we're talking a 0.04% drop over last month, that's a tiny percentage.
Honestly, I think Valve are starting to do more damage month after month having the Operating System (software) in a Hardware survey. I wish they would do something to fix this. It's a hardware survey after all, and you can trigger it easily with a change of hardware or operating system so it's not a great measure to use. How many of you have said about seeing it in Wine, or booting into Windows to see it pop up? I see lots of comments on that.
Linux is actually doing quite well overall looking at the games we have gained, and the games we will be getting. We also have Vulkan coming along which could offer a performance boost for the heavier games.
We also now have well over 1900 games available on Steam for Linux and that number is growing at a great pace. We have Feral Interactive about to announce what looks like two titles too, here and here.
You can also see on SteamDB how many games are likely to come to Linux in future too (quite a lot), and that's only games that have bits stored on Steam. Plenty of games still manage to hide from it before release.
So remember to stay strong, and keep buying those Linux games. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
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Yes I can confirm this.
First though, My co-workers and I around 50+ people all GNU/Linux users and all playing steam games on GNU/Linux
so when I see the stats im like WTF that can't be... I know also some friends in Latin Europe(south) play under Linux.
So has to be way more than that...
Also I do know we ALL play on Big picture because if not the Steam Controller will not work... so if this is not getting added like you mention on the post, then we are all screw.. they need to fix this stats so the anti linux mongers paid by big company's to post anti linux post around the net do not have wood to add to the fire.
http://www.binaryfreedom.info
First though, My co-workers and I around 50+ people all GNU/Linux users and all playing steam games on GNU/Linux
so when I see the stats im like WTF that can't be... I know also some friends in Latin Europe(south) play under Linux.
So has to be way more than that...
Also I do know we ALL play on Big picture because if not the Steam Controller will not work... so if this is not getting added like you mention on the post, then we are all screw.. they need to fix this stats so the anti linux mongers paid by big company's to post anti linux post around the net do not have wood to add to the fire.
http://www.binaryfreedom.info
0 Likes
I agree, although I think people make a much bigger deal about benchmarks than is warranted. In the majority of cases, Linux easily gets above the 60FPS threshhold, so most people wouldn't even notice that it theoretically lags behind Windows in terms of performance. What it does, though, is deny Linux gamers the coveted "My OS is better than your OS" bragging rights which a lot of people irrationally value.
This is one area where Linux could easily improve.
I kinda think it's ridiculous myself. I've got a couple of friends who spend, like, beaucoup bucks on THA RIGZ just to play games like World of Warcraft that would run just as well on a machine that costs a quarter as much. Yeah, that 315 FPS ingame looks impressive, but anything above 60 is just there for bragging rights.
But at the same time, they are an important part of the gaming market, which means they do have a lot of sway. As long as Linux doesn't give them the FPS Windows does, they'll never take to it, which means they won't extol its virtues, and bring their hangers-on into the Linux scene.
What you describe is a "Your mileage will vary" scenario.
...But getting back to your problem, that just sounds like you have something misconfigured on your system which can happen in Windows easily enough.
What? Sorry, but Windows has plenty of odd weirdo issues. I've encountered many of them myself, either troubleshooting my own problems or ones my wife has encountered, and I recently gave up on Windows entirely when a Windows Update got stuck in an endless loop that a Google search informed me is a rather common problem without an easy solution. So I blew away my Windows partition and never looked back. Linux is, in fact, much easier to troubleshoot and repair than Windows or OSX because everything is open. You're not stuck trying to navigate a locked down environment with limited access to the underlying system.
...don't get me started on Windows Update. I'm still repressing bad memories here.
Add "take with a grain of salt" to that. I will say that a lot of this probably comes down to the fact that I don't yet understand Linux nearly as well as I do Windows. Hell, I'm still at the point where I'm only sortakinda sure where all my installed programs go in the maze of folders that makes up the Linux directory structure.
With Windows, if I see any problems at all, I know exactly where to gut punch to get it to behave. I've spent so much time smacking it around, that it's like second nature to me. Yeah, this all comes down to comfort and familiarity, which is hardly the fault of Linux, but it is a hard thing to break out of. You have to be willing to learn something new, and to be willing to do it, you have to have a compelling reason to drive you on to do so. A carrot to attract people with, so to speak. Something which, for the moment anyway, Linux doesn't have for the average gamer. A generally more stable, secure, and free OS, while nice, isn't enough by itself.
I think this would be the best way I'd sum Linux in its current state. From a technical perspective, it has a lot of nice things going for it. Gamewise, it's getting better. Once performance starts getting more on par with Windows, it'll have even more going for it. But it doesn't have that quote unquote killer app for it yet. A good number of will wonder why they should learn something new just to play what they can already play now with what's right in front of them?
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Just wanted to comment that over the 3 or so years I've been using Steam I have gotten the hardware survey several times on Linux and one or two times on Windows. I'm using an Ubuntu based distribution so maybe the survey picks up on things better here, I don't know. Anyway, things are already not bad and are getting better for Linux gaming, especially closed source titles, though I hope that people don't forget about open source titles as well.
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The numbers are too low anyway
- Use of wine on MacOS X or Linux counts as Windows.
And for individual games as well:
- Buying a game before its available for MacOS X or Linux counts as Windows sale.
- Not playing a game on MacOS X or Linux the first two weeks counts as Windows sale, unless bought with the Steam client. Buying on the Web page thus counts automatically for Windows, even if the browser runs on Linux.
Basically, the statistics are stacked towards the incumbent.
- Use of wine on MacOS X or Linux counts as Windows.
And for individual games as well:
- Buying a game before its available for MacOS X or Linux counts as Windows sale.
- Not playing a game on MacOS X or Linux the first two weeks counts as Windows sale, unless bought with the Steam client. Buying on the Web page thus counts automatically for Windows, even if the browser runs on Linux.
Basically, the statistics are stacked towards the incumbent.
1 Likes, Who?
Valve is already tracking the OS and the hardware when you login to Steam and start a game, so why not use that for tracking? Tracking via an optional survey (which I never see on Linux) is silly and actually hurts SteamOS and GNU/Linux gaming in general.
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And for individual games as well:Any source of this? Because is sad. I brought a lot of games, maybe on sale just to play it a moth later for example.
- Buying a game before its available for MacOS X or Linux counts as Windows sale.
- Not playing a game on MacOS X or Linux the first two weeks counts as Windows sale, unless bought with the Steam client. Buying on the Web page thus counts automatically for Windows, even if the browser runs on Linux.
1 Likes, Who?
Buying a game before its available for MacOS X or Linux counts as Windows sale.No it doesn't. For example The Stanley Parable had Linux sales before it was ported, and other developers have made similar comments.
If that was ported by a different company their contract may only have them paid for sales after the release but that is a separate issue. That won't affect those of us who only play on Linux anyway, as there is no reason to buy a game that we can't use.
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PC World's response: http://www.pcworld.com/article/3045249/linux/linux-gaming-is-much-healthier-than-steams-hardware-survey-implies.html
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