The latest Steam Hardware Survey has been released and this time around Linux has actually increased the share by a small amount.
I know, I stopped writing about these for a while because the numbers we're talking about here are a little boring and I don't see it changing much any time soon.
Anyway, here's the current Linux market-share on Steam:
Total Overall: Linux 0.81% +0.05%
Despite popular belief, I consider it to be pretty accurate of the state of things on Steam. Yes it may be different elsewhere, but Steam is serving the gamer market. Every time I talk to a developer, they generally give me sales figures around that mark. We can make any wild claims we like about it being inaccurate, but if it was, more developers would be seeing a different story.
Sure Steam Big Picture and SteamOS aren't counted, but those are likely quite a minority.
Does it paint a terrible picture? Well, not exactly. 0.81% of the overall Steam user-base is still a pretty large amount of people. We have no idea just how many active accounts Steam has right now, but every time they talk about it, it's risen by quite a lot. The last time they spoke about it (end of 2015), it was at 125 million. That would put Linux gamers at well over a million, but that number is likely higher now due to Steam's growth since they last talked about it. How high is anyone's guess, since Valve aren't massively open about that.
Not enough to turn the heads of some important publishers sure, but we have a healthy amount of games flowing in constantly to keep me happy.
Where Linux gaming is right now, is pretty great. We only have to look back a short number of years to remember the great drought of games we had. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I know, I stopped writing about these for a while because the numbers we're talking about here are a little boring and I don't see it changing much any time soon.
Anyway, here's the current Linux market-share on Steam:
Total Overall: Linux 0.81% +0.05%
- Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS 64 bit 0.23% 0.00%
- Ubuntu 17.04 64 bit 0.10% +0.10%
- Linux 64 bit 0.08% 0.00%
- Linux Mint 18.1 Serena 64 bit 0.08% +0.01%
Despite popular belief, I consider it to be pretty accurate of the state of things on Steam. Yes it may be different elsewhere, but Steam is serving the gamer market. Every time I talk to a developer, they generally give me sales figures around that mark. We can make any wild claims we like about it being inaccurate, but if it was, more developers would be seeing a different story.
Sure Steam Big Picture and SteamOS aren't counted, but those are likely quite a minority.
Does it paint a terrible picture? Well, not exactly. 0.81% of the overall Steam user-base is still a pretty large amount of people. We have no idea just how many active accounts Steam has right now, but every time they talk about it, it's risen by quite a lot. The last time they spoke about it (end of 2015), it was at 125 million. That would put Linux gamers at well over a million, but that number is likely higher now due to Steam's growth since they last talked about it. How high is anyone's guess, since Valve aren't massively open about that.
Not enough to turn the heads of some important publishers sure, but we have a healthy amount of games flowing in constantly to keep me happy.
Where Linux gaming is right now, is pretty great. We only have to look back a short number of years to remember the great drought of games we had. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: GuestYou don't make the nuance that a large amount of windows games actually have worse performance. (e.g. most OpenGL games) When the windows games do have better performance, most of the times the difference will be insignificant.(even less than 8FPS)i dont know how many windows games are opengl based considering windows have an bad perfomance for openGL.
but in my experience, its not 8fps only, its the "playable vs unplayable state"
i dont care if the game will be 30 or 60fps, i just want something playable, with stable framerates, not being 60 at one moment then droping to 10 the next.
i need to test more games trough, i'm spending more time trying to make one than playing, and more time doing anything else too.
i'm not saying you are "wrong" different hardwares have different performance issues, so you need to do the benchmark on more than one machine and game, and in my experience i never got an better perfomance for an game on linux.
i got it while i was trying to decode an fullHD video though.
linux running flawless and windows struggling to decode it. (vlc on both)
Quoting: GuestSo it's a lot less black/white than how you describe it. GOG games are easier to install on Linux. Steam is the same as on Windows,did you know what? i know how to install gog games but i have no idea on how to uninstall.
also, i dont like large .sh files, if they pack it into debs, at least i can open it on other package managers to try to figure out what went wrong (eg: the file roller)
Quoting: Guestso this is again not a real argument.ok, first off, i'm clearly not talking about native games here but games that run on wine but arent distributed on gog/steam as "linux compatibles" following instructions on winehq is not always pain free.
i had trouble figuring out WTF is an wine preffix or the syntax of some commands, that because i'm a programmer and have i good english reading skills.
an "end user" may not fit any of those 2 descriptions and even if you do everything right, the person who managed to run an game may be using an different distro where the same tutorial works. (i will not install one distro per game, much less an end user)
if i'm saying that i had problems, that means i had problems and other people will too, your personal
experience do not reflect everyone else experience of gaming on linux.
about the native games, hell!
i started using linux at ubuntu 8.10
i had trouble figuring out how to solve the dependence hell to build step mania years ago.
i dont know how to install open mortal on debian systems or if it still run on modern systems. (its not distributed as .deb and pretty much an dead project nowadays)
i couldnt play yo frankie on linux (too slow) and could on windows on the same fucking computer.
i have no idea of how to uninstall installers.sh
for .debs, i had enough trouble when numpty physics game break my package manager (an game on the repos!) i had to manually uninstall it.
you can update any package but its a pain in the ass to downgrade, and if you need 2 versions of the same lib, you're pretty much screwed.
we had problems due to different packages systems (rpm, deb etc) but fourtunately snaps will solve the problem!
or... flat packs! or...app images... hell ¬¬ at least those dindt cause me any problem yet.
maybe all the problems i quoted above where solved by now, but where were the linux fanboys to tell me about then when i had then? i know a lot of people who tried linux a few years ago, got burned and dont want to try again, maybe if people told then they might have problems instead of pretending those dont exist they wouldnt burn their own credibility.
Quoting: GuestAnd the fact that you will have more games also doesn't mean that you will have a better gaming experience.anything is better than dealing with wine.
Quoting: GuestIt's not so long ago that Windows had exactly the same amount of games that Linux has now.bullshit.
steam didnt had all the games before, that is what changed, it dont have all the games even now, just look at pretty much any doujin or niche japanese indie tittle to figure it out.
also, if you count flash games (that also run on linux with an horrible perfomance, stability issues or security issues) there are tons of good games that definitely were avaliable before, some of then are just being repackaged for steam.
Quoting: GuestAnd if you would have asked a Windows user then the question 'Do you have more than enough great games for a perfect gaming experience?' More than 90% would have said yes at the moment where Windows had exaclty as many games as Linux now.if you ask any gamer if he wants to play the games he WANT to play or the games that he can play on linux, guess what he will ansewer?
people play what they want, they purchase an machine just to play a few exclusives, why the hell they will change their OS to limit then selfs? if they would do that, linux wouldnt have 1% marketshare dammit!
Quoting: GuestIt's not really beta testing for the many games older than 6 years. You have a huge chance that they will work perfectly fine in Wine.and you have the chance it will not, it will break or have all kind of glitches.
Quoting: GuestI ment the most popular game with decent graphics of course. 'LOL' looks graphically like something from the 90s or worse. Dota 2 had 4x the prize pool of LOL in 2016.ok, graphics are what matter said no gamer evar.
i will not win the championiship so i couldnt care less about the prize pool.
at least in dota you have less people to compete against despite the bigger prize pool, that is how much it matter for the avarage gamer.
Quoting: GuestIt surprises me that you have a prize pool for LOL because that game doesn't reallyi dont know, maybe people have social life and want to play with/agains their friends who play LOL and dont play dota?
reward higher skill levels. Dota 2 dominates eSports completely with 10 entries in the top 11. So yeah, it's just a fact that Dota 2 is the most popular game with decent graphics. Largest Overall Prize Pools in eSports: https://www.esportsearnings.com/tournaments
since 99% of then will not get this prizes anyway.
or maybe they cant play dota because it dont have potato graphics, you need an good machine to play it?
as i said LOL run on pretty much everything.
Quoting: GuestAnd Linux (e.g. Debian) is also a more stable system than Windows 10."maybe if you're running it on an critical mission, but i didnt saw windows crash lately.
Quoting: GuestThis is important because many stability issues are not related to the code of the game.i agree with that.
Quoting: GuestFor stability I'm also concerned about all the malware that goes into the browser cache after every internet session.i dont know what browsers has to do, if you said that they break the browser sandbox i could understand, but people are using firefox and chrome on windows nowadays.
Quoting: GuestOr things like WannaCry and other ransomware attacks from hacker groups.this was an virus that used an security failure that MS knew about, but didnt fix to help nsa, it was on windows code for years, and when it got found by crackers it was fixed due to the consequences, this didnt caused any stability issues for games until then AFAIK.[/quote]
Quoting: GuestViruses and worms often spread by convincing computer users to do something they shouldn't, like open attachments that carry viruses and worms. This is called social engineering, and it's all too easy on Windows systems.this has nothing to do with being easier to maintain the code.
Quoting: GuestWindows is essentially a monoculture, which is no better in technology than it is in the natural world. Diversity minimizes the deleterious effects of a deadly virus, so a diversity of computing environments helps protect users.diversity also makes it harder to find all the bugs, its harder to maintain in an system like this, that is why gamers target the runtime provided by valve to make sure their games run on all linux systems, that is, again, monoculture.
also, you can ship your own libs if you dont trust windows libs to do the job for you.
Quoting: GuestThe majority of viruses target Windows because millions of people all using the same software make an attractive target for malicious attacks.agree, but we arent talking about security here, unless you wanna imply some virus is causing the bugs on the windows side?
Quoting: GuestWith Windows, it's a limited set of paid developers who are trying to find problems in the code. In the Linux world, on the other hand, countless users can see the code at any time, making it more likely that someone will find a flaw sooner rather than later.sorry but there are countless of projects on github, many of then dont have 1 single active maintainer because people arent paid to maitain it.
the fact that it is open source, dont mean a countless number of volunteers will apear and help fixing all the issues.
it ifs a common piece of software, that everyone uses, its more likely someone will, but we need to better track if anyone is doing it or assuming someone else will do/have done.
dirtycow, heartbleed for example are bugs that took to many time to be fixed.
Quoting: GuestNot only that, but users can even fix problems themselves.now THAT is a good point.
fixing the bug your self if you report it to the original developer and they didnt fix it (like it would be expected by an system with paid employees to do this job)
Quoting: GuestNone of this is to say that Linux is impervious; no operating system is. But when it comes to security, there's no doubt that Linux users have a lot less to worry about. And I think that everyone can understand that better security improves stability during games.not all bugs are security bugs, so, no.
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"The stability of the core system is also important during games and Debian wins in this. And I think that you(and almost everyone) overestimate any kind of stability in Windows"
i had to use windows for over an year and had no issue whats-so-ever, so i know what i'm talking about.
windows is not as instable as at it was in the 7, vista, xp,98 or 95 era anymore.
" This means that Vulkan will be as fast as DX11 and extremely close to DX12. In 2018 Linux will become a serious gaming OS, here's why: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/6dhuzk/in_2018_linux_will_become_a_serious_gaming_os/";
i dont doubt vulkan will be faster there is nothing that microsoft can do to lock the games to windows without increassing overhead.
for the developers/engines, i think most of then will target vulkan, since Dx12 is Windows 10 only, some may use Dx12 due to xbox though.
but future is future, if you tell someone today that "linux is an better option" and that is a lie today, dont matter if tomorrow it will be true, the person may try, get burned, and never want to use it again, you will only destroy your credibility.
but if people wait until linux got better for gaming to use it, we will always have the chicken and egg problem.
"The gog installation creates a file with the name uninstall.sh You only have to run this file and it will do a very clean uninstall.
cd "/path/to/map/""
thank you, now how to uninstall netbeans.sh?
"A default repo or one that you manually added? How can a game install break the package manager? "
Default repos, but non lts (i didnt knew what lts means)
"This isn't correct. They play what their platform has available."
that is why they purchase consoles, if they go as fair as spending money for an dedicated machine to play a few exclusives, i dont see why they would install another OS to limit then selfes.
"How are you going to game on a system where a virus takes 100% CPU all the time. "
that is an "Straw man" argument, no virus will do it because the user will notice and format the computer.
most of the virus try to be Unsuspicious.
that is my problem with people like you, you speak as if the Acpocalypse would be tomorrow and do so everyday.
while in the real world, people didnt dump windows even after the wannacry issue.
"I was talking about the most used Linux software. "
i've seen this Speech over and over again, but the theory dont match the reality.
gimp had only 2 active maintainers the last time i checked.
in theory Free software would be faster, safer and more stable, in pratice, you cant charge for then because anyone can create an free fork, and that would limit the contributions.
in some cases like firefox, it is indead faster,safer and more stable (and evolve faster) in other cases, the software has a lot of users but its left for dust because almost none of then donate for it, and there is an limit for what people can do in their spare time.
"This was on almost every news site recently and it affected .. more than 250 million Windows computers."
it affect 250 million of windows computers, but we didnt saw 250 million computers crashing due to it, an website would need to create such a file and spread it to crash those computers, and there is no monetary gain in doing so.
different from the wanna cry, its not a security hole but an stability issue, in the worst case scenario someone would use this to prank their friends then they will have to reboot the computer and get mad at it.
dirtcow also afect all android devices until android 7, and we didnt saw the android-pocalypse yet.
(this bug also affected the desktop linux, but at least its easier to update on desktop)
Last edited by elmapul on 6 June 2017 at 9:21 pm UTC
i had to use windows for over an year and had no issue whats-so-ever, so i know what i'm talking about.
windows is not as instable as at it was in the 7, vista, xp,98 or 95 era anymore.
" This means that Vulkan will be as fast as DX11 and extremely close to DX12. In 2018 Linux will become a serious gaming OS, here's why: https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/6dhuzk/in_2018_linux_will_become_a_serious_gaming_os/";
i dont doubt vulkan will be faster there is nothing that microsoft can do to lock the games to windows without increassing overhead.
for the developers/engines, i think most of then will target vulkan, since Dx12 is Windows 10 only, some may use Dx12 due to xbox though.
but future is future, if you tell someone today that "linux is an better option" and that is a lie today, dont matter if tomorrow it will be true, the person may try, get burned, and never want to use it again, you will only destroy your credibility.
but if people wait until linux got better for gaming to use it, we will always have the chicken and egg problem.
"The gog installation creates a file with the name uninstall.sh You only have to run this file and it will do a very clean uninstall.
cd "/path/to/map/""
thank you, now how to uninstall netbeans.sh?
"A default repo or one that you manually added? How can a game install break the package manager? "
Default repos, but non lts (i didnt knew what lts means)
"This isn't correct. They play what their platform has available."
that is why they purchase consoles, if they go as fair as spending money for an dedicated machine to play a few exclusives, i dont see why they would install another OS to limit then selfes.
"How are you going to game on a system where a virus takes 100% CPU all the time. "
that is an "Straw man" argument, no virus will do it because the user will notice and format the computer.
most of the virus try to be Unsuspicious.
that is my problem with people like you, you speak as if the Acpocalypse would be tomorrow and do so everyday.
while in the real world, people didnt dump windows even after the wannacry issue.
"I was talking about the most used Linux software. "
i've seen this Speech over and over again, but the theory dont match the reality.
gimp had only 2 active maintainers the last time i checked.
in theory Free software would be faster, safer and more stable, in pratice, you cant charge for then because anyone can create an free fork, and that would limit the contributions.
in some cases like firefox, it is indead faster,safer and more stable (and evolve faster) in other cases, the software has a lot of users but its left for dust because almost none of then donate for it, and there is an limit for what people can do in their spare time.
"This was on almost every news site recently and it affected .. more than 250 million Windows computers."
it affect 250 million of windows computers, but we didnt saw 250 million computers crashing due to it, an website would need to create such a file and spread it to crash those computers, and there is no monetary gain in doing so.
different from the wanna cry, its not a security hole but an stability issue, in the worst case scenario someone would use this to prank their friends then they will have to reboot the computer and get mad at it.
dirtcow also afect all android devices until android 7, and we didnt saw the android-pocalypse yet.
(this bug also affected the desktop linux, but at least its easier to update on desktop)
Last edited by elmapul on 6 June 2017 at 9:21 pm UTC
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"If you think that Microsoft isn't that bad"
i didnt said that, the issue is, the average people dont see then as bad
"Not significantly. Most linux games are only designed/tested for Ubuntu. And the amazing thing is that it usually works just as great in Arch Linux, openSUSE, Fedora, .."
that because they target the steam runtime that valve made to make sure the games would run on any distro.
as i said, monoculture again.
"2)for taking minimum 14x longer than usual to fix things."
there are security failures both on windows and on linux that took 10 years or more to be found and fixed.
i dont think MS is alive for 140 years to have 14x the time to find something.
" They play what their platform has available. "
i forgot to mention that the number of exclusives is quickly droping
emulators make the old console games avaliable and they are getting ported.
sony made an service to stream playstation games to pc, and microsoft has the "play anywhere" feature.
i didnt said that, the issue is, the average people dont see then as bad
"Not significantly. Most linux games are only designed/tested for Ubuntu. And the amazing thing is that it usually works just as great in Arch Linux, openSUSE, Fedora, .."
that because they target the steam runtime that valve made to make sure the games would run on any distro.
as i said, monoculture again.
"2)for taking minimum 14x longer than usual to fix things."
there are security failures both on windows and on linux that took 10 years or more to be found and fixed.
i dont think MS is alive for 140 years to have 14x the time to find something.
" They play what their platform has available. "
i forgot to mention that the number of exclusives is quickly droping
emulators make the old console games avaliable and they are getting ported.
sony made an service to stream playstation games to pc, and microsoft has the "play anywhere" feature.
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also, they took more than 8 years to fix this stupid bug:
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/02/nautilus-3-20-zoom-level-options
where are all those eyeballs?
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/02/nautilus-3-20-zoom-level-options
where are all those eyeballs?
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