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PayPalValve have put out their usual monthly Steam Hardware Survey, which shows a bigger decline than usual for the Linux marketshare.
Last month, Linux was sat at 0.60%, but as of October it has dropped to 0.35% which is a sharper drop than usual. It's worth noting, that Mac had an even bigger drop.
It's easy to see why though, China is now the biggest market on Steam according to their survey. Simplified Chinese has increased by +26.83% making their share of Steam's market at 56.37%. That's a huge influx of users from that region, which can easily account for the reason Linux has been dropping recently.
When you look at it even further, Windows specifically has 57.45% (an increase of +26.99%) using Simplified Chinese as their language. Compare that with Linux, and only 0.53% (a drop of -0.11%) use Simplified Chinese. Linux just isn't popular in that region, so again, the drop does make sense and can be accounted for.
A large portion of that increase has likely been fuelled by PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS, which is not available on Linux and is the most played game on Steam right now. There's also rumours of it being banned in China, which has likely caused another surge in people taking a look at it.
I should remind you, that a drop in the marketshare doesn't mean less users. It likely means that Windows growth here due to the two above points has just dwarfed any possible increase in Linux gamers on Steam.
I don't see this as any reason to panic, at all. Once the hype around PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS starts to vanish, the numbers will likely start to even out again.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Honestly , I don't care for stats anymore. I realize we are a small group and I realize that M$ maintains their monopoly by tolerating pirates and pushing aggressively at corporate.
Curios if their updates-as-a-service backfires and how long till users in other regions of the globe discover Linux.
In any case , I found freedom to do as I want with my OS. I am staying for good. Games or no (despite we have a lot already and wine can always add more)
Curios if their updates-as-a-service backfires and how long till users in other regions of the globe discover Linux.
In any case , I found freedom to do as I want with my OS. I am staying for good. Games or no (despite we have a lot already and wine can always add more)
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that jump in windows 7 numbers and the decline of windows 10 made me chuckle, i guess windows 10 isn't quite as pirated as much as windows 7 in china these days :P
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So, who is going to tell the software houses that they can either:
1) port their system to correct internationalization, have one big hell of problems, but also a big revenue to get chinese supported.
To be clear: the internationalization effort of Fortresscraft Evolved is taking almost a year now, and it is not finished. There are so many problems and new bugs if you even bother to try.
And you still have to translate (community job fortunately on FCE), and bigger titles need to do voice overs.
Steam always said: the revenue is big if you correctly translate an english game to chinese.
2) click on the button to build a linux version too.
3) why not both?
Anyway: chinese is a problematic market due to the language. Which chinese will you use, how will you represent and render the data? How will you change layout?
There are other standards in China too beside UTF-8, they already have 2 different coding standards. So it really is not easy. But it might be worth your while.
1) port their system to correct internationalization, have one big hell of problems, but also a big revenue to get chinese supported.
To be clear: the internationalization effort of Fortresscraft Evolved is taking almost a year now, and it is not finished. There are so many problems and new bugs if you even bother to try.
And you still have to translate (community job fortunately on FCE), and bigger titles need to do voice overs.
Steam always said: the revenue is big if you correctly translate an english game to chinese.
2) click on the button to build a linux version too.
3) why not both?
Anyway: chinese is a problematic market due to the language. Which chinese will you use, how will you represent and render the data? How will you change layout?
There are other standards in China too beside UTF-8, they already have 2 different coding standards. So it really is not easy. But it might be worth your while.
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Quoting: GuestQuoting: g000hI think what annoys me about this news is the fact that most of the copies of Windows being used in China are pirated. Previous news stories estimate 90% of Windows in China is pirated. A few years ago, Steve Ballmer stated it being the case. It is clear that Chinese do not want to pay for software, probably because typical earnings are not great and probably because they can get away with it without fear of repercussions.
The thing is... They could be using Linux instead, and for FREE. And no WannaCry or other malware that has gone through Windows installs over there. Imagine the boost to Linux if all those Chinese had not been pirating...
What makes you think that Chinese Linux users would bother to pay for the games?
Answering your question: Anyone who pirates operating system software is just as likely to pirate games or application software. In the case of games which don't have an online multiplayer component, e.g. playing The Witcher 3, Skyrim, Dark Souls, then I'm sure that piracy is rife.
However, games which use a gamer id to login to an online multiplayer game, e.g. Overwatch, PUBG - Then the publishers can identify pirates and ban them. In these cases, I expect there are game purchases being made. Also noting that these are Steam statistics, so I expect the game has been bought (or the steam key acquired fraudulently) for the pirate to play it.
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Quoting: g000hQuoting: GuestQuoting: g000hI think what annoys me about this news is the fact that most of the copies of Windows being used in China are pirated. Previous news stories estimate 90% of Windows in China is pirated. A few years ago, Steve Ballmer stated it being the case. It is clear that Chinese do not want to pay for software, probably because typical earnings are not great and probably because they can get away with it without fear of repercussions.
The thing is... They could be using Linux instead, and for FREE. And no WannaCry or other malware that has gone through Windows installs over there. Imagine the boost to Linux if all those Chinese had not been pirating...
What makes you think that Chinese Linux users would bother to pay for the games?
Answering your question: Anyone who pirates operating system software is just as likely to pirate games or application software. In the case of games which don't have an online multiplayer component, e.g. playing The Witcher 3, Skyrim, Dark Souls, then I'm sure that piracy is rife.
However, games which use a gamer id to login to an online multiplayer game, e.g. Overwatch, PUBG - Then the publishers can identify pirates and ban them. In these cases, I expect there are game purchases being made. Also noting that these are Steam statistics, so I expect the game has been bought (or the steam key acquired fraudulently) for the pirate to play it.
There's no reason someone who pirated Windows wouldn't have a legit Steam account with a few legally owned games on it. The world isn't that black and white.
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Quoting: BrisseThere's no reason someone who pirated Windows wouldn't have a legit Steam account with a few legally owned games on it. The world isn't that black and white.
Here's some Black and White for you..
You play legitimately bought games on pirated Windows - you're a pirate.
You play pirated games on pirated Windows - you're a pirate.
You play legitimately bought games on free Linux - you're not a pirate.
3 Likes, Who?
Quoting: g000hQuoting: BrisseThere's no reason someone who pirated Windows wouldn't have a legit Steam account with a few legally owned games on it. The world isn't that black and white.
Here's some Black and White for you..
You play legitimately bought games on pirated Windows - you're a pirate.
You play pirated games on pirated Windows - you're a pirate.
You play legitimately bought games on free Linux - you're not a pirate.
Yeah, but my point is that you seemed to imply with your last comment that pirates don't count towards Steam statistics which is just plain wrong.
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Quoting: BrisseYeah, but my point is that you seemed to imply with your last comment that pirates don't count towards Steam statistics which is just plain wrong.
No, my implication was that someone who pirates will potentially do so, whenever possible. Agreeing with you that people can selectively pirate software, i.e. buy some stuff and pirate other stuff. However, if the person is in Steam statistics, it probably means they bought the game on Steam or acquired a steam key some other way, possibly fraudulently.
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Quoting: g000hHowever, if the person is in Steam statistics, it probably means they bought the game on Steam or acquired a steam key some other way, possibly fraudulently.
Except, all you need to appear in the statistics is a FREE Steam account and the FREE Steam client. You don't need to own any games. Also, there are some really popular free-to-play games on Steam such as DOTA2 which you can just install and play right away without paying a single cent.
If you were to pirate a game, it will run outside of Steam, so pirates don't get banned from Steam. Anything you run from within Steam is going to be legit, except if you are the victim of key fraud.
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