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PayPalThis is pretty insane, Steam has broken another record for their concurrent user count hitting over 17.6 million. It was only in January that Steam passed 14 million concurrent users, so this is a pretty big growth.
Not only did they hit that allmighty figure, they also recorded 6.8 million users actually in-game, so not just people with Steam sat open doing nothing.
The thing is, it isn't just the sales driving this. It helps of course, as everyone scrambles to splurge the cash on the latest games, or whatever's been sat in their wishlist. On a day like today Steam is still sitting at around 12.3 million users, which is still extremely high considering the previous record.
I have no doubts that PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS is driving quite a bit of this, since it hit an all-time peak player count of 2.9 million around the same time. Honestly, if PUBG was on Linux, I would be playing it too. This is again a part of the reason why the Linux market-share on Steam has gone down (remember though, it doesn't actually mean less Linux gamers!), due to such popular games not supporting Linux and Steam's growth in markets where Linux isn't currently popular.
Now, just imagine how much money Valve is likely dealing with. Not just how much they're making, but how much passes through their systems every day—crazy! It shows how big a grip Valve holds on the PC gaming market and how far they could push Linux gaming in future once drivers have come further along, once VR support is better and so on.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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56588 Linux users Online in steam
21861 Linux users in Game
thats if the 0.32% from the Hardware Survey is correct
21861 Linux users in Game
thats if the 0.32% from the Hardware Survey is correct
3 Likes, Who?
56588 Linux users Online in steamI would think the amount of linux users to be (always) online to be higher relative to windows users, for obvious reasons. So also the total online numbers relative to the 0.32%.
21861 Linux users in Game
thats if the 0.32% from the Hardware Survey is correct
The amount of ingame, I don't know...
Anyway: I am now 48/7 online with a steam machine and a gpd win :-).
Last edited by Ardje on 27 Nov 2017 at 12:43 pm UTC
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56588 Linux users Online in steamI don't think the numbers as they are right now are to be trusted, considering the huge drop since PUBG/China growth, meaning the numbers are pretty skewed right now in favour of Windows.
21861 Linux users in Game
thats if the 0.32% from the Hardware Survey is correct
It's usually reasonably correct, but now not so much due to this.
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yeah those were just calculations from the numbers above.
there's always variety. there might be more linux users online in different times also. And yeah linux users are more likely to not close their PC :) so steam is running all the time.
Anyway i think those numbers are quite good. Obviously not good enough for bigger publishers.
there's always variety. there might be more linux users online in different times also. And yeah linux users are more likely to not close their PC :) so steam is running all the time.
Anyway i think those numbers are quite good. Obviously not good enough for bigger publishers.
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It must happen one thing for the linux gamer base to grow:
A successful console. (The pc gaming on linux will be low for a long time yet)
A game like PUBG, and the top 40 more played games in Steam could be the answer. Maybe.
Who already has a Linux console? Valve.
What should they do to push forward their console? Make deals with publishers and/or developers of the top 40 list to port those games to the console. And advertise it.
Valve itself must do this. It will not happen miraculously.
---
A successful console. (The pc gaming on linux will be low for a long time yet)
A game like PUBG, and the top 40 more played games in Steam could be the answer. Maybe.
Who already has a Linux console? Valve.
What should they do to push forward their console? Make deals with publishers and/or developers of the top 40 list to port those games to the console. And advertise it.
Valve itself must do this. It will not happen miraculously.
---
2 Likes, Who?
Who already has a Linux console? Valve.I think the stance of Valve is clear: they want to meddle as little as possible with the market.
What should they do to push forward their console? Make deals with publishers and/or developers of the top 40 list to port those games to the console. And advertise it.
Valve itself must do this. It will not happen miraculously.
They are willing to promote other peoples steam machine through their site.
They are even willing to develop the software and research the hardware.
But even then: the Vive is from HTC, not from Valve. Researched, developed and designed by Valve, but mass produced and sold by HTC.
They probably took matters into their own hands for the link and the steam controller, as it is hard to push to others without loosing quality.
So no, I think it lies outside Valve's politics to compete with other manufacturers. Yes, I think it would be nice though, but I understand when they do not want to compete with others.
1 Likes, Who?
I don't believe a Linux console is a solution for Linux gamers. I don't know about you, but around me, me included, all Linux users are doing much more than playing, on their PC.
It's a workstation for video, music, 3D, development, internet, social media door, games, all together, and if there was a Linux console, they would NOT buy it or use it even for free. It would require a split between the PC and the console, while with the PC they have all in one machine.
It's a workstation for video, music, 3D, development, internet, social media door, games, all together, and if there was a Linux console, they would NOT buy it or use it even for free. It would require a split between the PC and the console, while with the PC they have all in one machine.
3 Likes, Who?
56588 Linux users Online in steam
Interesting that that number is about the same as the number of members of the r/linux_gaming subreddit.
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stretch611 27 Nov 2017
56588 Linux users Online in steam
Interesting that that number is about the same as the number of members of the r/linux_gaming subreddit.
I doubt the two are related at all. I rarely turn off my machine and leave steam on in the background. I don't even have a reddit account let alone subscribe to one of their subs.
Many people I know involved with linux and open source are privacy minded. Many also don't care for any form of DRM. But, while the two topics are loosely related, everyone has their differences. Think of all the people on this site that only are interested in gaming through GOG because of DRM. All I am saying is that there are so many differences that I am sure those numbers are not correlated in the least.
That being said, with 17m online at once, I wonder just how many users they have total.
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Philadelphus 27 Nov 2017
I, on the other hand, put my PC to sleep when I'm not using it like a proper environmentally-conscious individual. :P
And, uh, to save on electricity costs as a starving student.
(And yes, I know it's still technically drawing current while asleep, but to such a tiny extent it's hardly worth mentioning. If only hibernate wasn't so hit-and-miss on Debian…)
And, uh, to save on electricity costs as a starving student.
(And yes, I know it's still technically drawing current while asleep, but to such a tiny extent it's hardly worth mentioning. If only hibernate wasn't so hit-and-miss on Debian…)
3 Likes, Who?
Feral should appear and port PUBG to linux and macOS. The game still in beta, so should have plenty of time to optimize a Vulkan engine for it
2 Likes, Who?
I don't believe a Linux console is a solution for Linux gamers. I don't know about you, but around me, me included, all Linux users are doing much more than playing, on their PC.I still think a Linux console would be a very big win for Linux gamers. Lots of computing software these days are browser based. People use Google documents and email and music, etc. You can use the good browsers on Linux no problem. So, if the majority of highly advertised games ran on Linux, then I do think PC gamers would be more apt to running Linux on their PC's instead of Windows. The rest of the stuff they do on their computers wouldn't even be a shift.
It's a workstation for video, music, 3D, development, internet, social media door, games, all together, and if there was a Linux console, they would NOT buy it or use it even for free. It would require a split between the PC and the console, while with the PC they have all in one machine.
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I don't believe a Linux console is a solution for Linux gamers. I don't know about you, but around me, me included, all Linux users are doing much more than playing, on their PC.
It's a workstation for video, music, 3D, development, internet, social media door, games, all together, and if there was a Linux console, they would NOT buy it or use it even for free. It would require a split between the PC and the console, while with the PC they have all in one machine.
I agree with you. A linux console could bring people from Windows and consoles, but not linux users.
Maybe they should invest in make easier to port games from Windows to Linux. Make more Steam Dev Days, invest in some free online courses that are better than what already have. If more people learn about linux, Vulkan, OpenGL, SDL etc then will have more ports to linux
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I don't believe a Linux console is a solution for Linux gamers. I don't know about you, but around me, me included, all Linux users are doing much more than playing, on their PC.
--speculation----
We are Linux users, ok, agreed. But i am talking about NEW Linux gamers, or, new "Linux gamers" :D (I suspect that most of them will not want to be Linux gamers, let me be rude. I.E. Android users. Most of them do not know they are Linux users, and get shocked to know it)
What is our goal? More games are ported to Linux, period.
The solution is in front of us. Valve SteamOS Consoles (Steam Machines). But, Valve as a leader must promote that, regardless of the hardware. More people will be willing to buy that console IF there is something, whatever something, perhaps like a guarantee that the 40 most played games on Steam will be ported to that console. People need guarantees.
If all goes well, the result will be our happy "Linux users" faces.
--end speculation----
Valve need to be more independent of Microsoft, and they know that.
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Unfortunately, I only see one scenario of noticeable Linux share growth and it's a nasty one: Linux exclusives. The thing that Valve denied right off the bat. But seriously, the Windows gamers don't see any benefits to switch right now. Why bother with switching if everything already works on Windows? Yeah, Win 10 telemetry, ads, updates, bla-bla-bla, but that's still not enough to change the platform. It's like relocating to another country or maybe even anouther planet. It's not something you'd consider until you're absolutely done with the world around you as it currently is. And it usually takes a lot of time and hardships to endure. We're not there yet and the only force to push them as I see it is the same damn exclusives that sold trilliards of Switches, PS4, XBox and so on.
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