We don't usually comment directly on the Steam Hardware Survey every month, not unless it's something real interesting and this is the second month where it is because we're still officially above 1%! It was actually quite big news last month because it's the highest we've seen in many years.
The trend appears to be continuing, with the August numbers up from Valve which show Linux now at 1.02%. You can see a bit of history over on our dedicated Steam Tracker.
Using the latest months recorded share that's an estimated 1,228,080 "monthly active" Linux users on Steam, based on the last data Valve gave from January 2021. Going by the data that Steam provide we can see a breakdown of the most popular Linux distributions (when filtered to just Linux) on Steam right now as these:
- Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS 64 bit - 15.77%
- Manjaro Linux 64 bit - 12.72%
- Arch Linux 64 bit - 11.14%
- Pop!_OS 21.04 64 bit - 7.36%
- Ubuntu 21.04 64 bit - 6.60%
- Linux Mint 20.2 64 bit 5.50%
You can also see that Steam Flatpak shows up being used by 5.58% of Linux/Steam users.
Want to see what systems our readers are running? Check out our statistics page.
We expect the hype around the Steam Deck and Proton getting some bigger mentions from Valve has helped. Since the Steam Deck is a Linux machine with SteamOS 3 being based on Arch Linux, it's not overly surprising to see a bump in people trying Linux out before the release.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
QuoteEnglish
33.56%
-4.40%
Simplified Chinese
30.12%
+7.21%
FauconNoir Sep 2, 2021
Quoting: FauconNoirYou should use a Javascript library like Highcharts to have an interactive chart, it is cooler !We already do, on the dedicated page which is linked in the article but we're not going to stick JavaScript required stuff into an article content for something like that.
Probably the only one who uses gentoo and plays games on it...
I just hope Valve switches for gentoo for steam OS hue hue hue
thoughtfulhippo Sep 2, 2021
The survey is such a mystery!
Quoting: thoughtfulhippoActually had the survey pop-up for the first time on my daughter's account last night. That's only the third time I recall getting asked across 4 accounts and 7 years.
The survey is such a mystery!
That's ok in my book. How often are you asked which party you'd be voting for...?
(It seems the result is always taken on the first of a month, that's also the only time I had it.)
I know all good businessmen will actually focus more on chinese numbers before rest of the world because there is where big money is made today (well, unless Winnie is able to kill his country VG market with the new restrictions), but USA is meaningful for trend setting and it can give a hint on what to expect in the years to come.
Quoting: MalWhat is the adoption in the USA alone?
Nobody knows, but Liam's tracker has got the English only graph for a guess (nice increase lately!):
Liam, I'm still not sure how you're calculating it, despite reading the description. Which numbers do you use?
Last edited by Eike on 2 September 2021 at 9:33 am UTC
gradyvuckovic Sep 2, 2021
Considering 1% is well above 'trend', to be staying above that mark is really awesome!
1.02% of 120 million monthly active gamers.
That's 1,224,000 penguins. Hardly "no one".
And the number is highly likely to rise even higher once the Steam Deck starts shipping.
I really think 2% is within reach next year at this rate.
Quoting: EikeLiam, I'm still not sure how you're calculating it, despite reading the description. Which numbers do you use?It's based on an older comment. I'm still not 100% sure if that's actually correct or not, maths is a real weak point of mine - the code is on GitLab if anyone wanted to verify and fix if it's wrong.
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 2 September 2021 at 9:49 am UTC
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