The latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey is out now for September 2022, with it showing that clearly the Steam Deck with SteamOS is the most popular way now to game on Linux.
With the latest numbers though, there is a dip in the overall Linux user share with it now at 1.23%. A drop overall of 0.04 percentage points which some may attribute to just noise but that's what the survey says. Historical data can be found on our Steam Tracker like the below graph snapshot:
As for the most popular Linux distributions, it's now pretty clear that SteamOS is on top:
- SteamOS Holo 64 bit 17.04% +3.35%
- Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS 64 bit 12.48% +4.28%
- Arch Linux 64 bit 10.57% -0.32%
- Manjaro Linux 64 bit 7.80% -1.13%
- Flatpak runtime 64 bit (multi-distro) 4.81% +4.81%
- Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS 64 bit 4.31% -0.15%
- Other 42.99% +5.10%
I'm sure some will argue about combining distributions together, like Arch and Manjaro that would put them on top but really they're quite different. Just like how SteamOS has its own update schedule, so does Manjaro they're just based-on Arch. A bit different for Pop and Ubuntu, which share the same base directly.
As for devices, Steam Deck is clearly top for Linux with it's GPU being used by 17.07% putting it at the top for Linux players. That's an +3.35% increase compared with last month too, so the lead is only continuing to grow. Once again though, it's still not even showing up in the Windows stats meaning very few overall people are using Windows on the Steam Deck.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
I don't know how they count the Steam Decks into this, my turn each year is August and though I had my Steam Deck by then, I didn't see a popup, neither in gaming mode nor in desktop mode. I guess they do it under the hood and you can't opt out?I don't think they need to ask anything for the Steam Decks.
They should be pretty certain what kind of system & hardware is in those things
And once you log in using a Steam Deck, they get another +1 on their wall-mounted counter*.
*I don't actually know if they have a wall-mounted counter, but... wouldn't you if you were them?
CyborgZeta 4 Oct 2022
That's not what it showed for August, based on Liam's last survey article.Interesting that Ubuntu's back in 2nd place, and both Ubuntu 20.04 and Linux Mint have disappeared entirely.Ubuntu was in first place last month.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/09/linux-user-share-on-steam-continues-the-slow-climb-steamos-rises/
It was SteamOS followed by Arch, according to this. Unless, of course, you're combining Ubuntu 22.04 and 20.04 and just ranking "Ubuntu". Steam treats different Ubuntu releases as separate, as do I, but eh. It's not something worth arguing over.
Last edited by CyborgZeta on 4 Oct 2022 at 1:12 pm UTC
no_information_here 4 Oct 2022
As I have been complaining forever, Valve could easily take the data from live Steam client connections. They really have daily information of the base OS for every single user. It wouldn't have the hardware detail, but the OS statistics would be a 100% sample of logged-in users. Not sure why they don't.Valve know what OS each customer is using. Sharing that information with third parties without specific consent is a privacy violation.
While I agree with your sentiment, this doesn't seem to be realistic in the current day and age. They already share all kinds of data on what games people are buying and their daily active players. I haven't combed through the TOU agreements, but I suspect there is some kind of thing that says "we will use your anonymized aggregated data and you will shut up and buy our games."
While I agree with your sentiment, this doesn't seem to be realistic in the current day and age. They already share all kinds of data on what games people are buying and their daily active players. I haven't combed through the TOU agreements, but I suspect there is some kind of thing that says "we will use your anonymized aggregated data and you will shut up and buy our games.""The current day and age" has the GDPR.
With these, I always wish Valve would give out absolute numbers instead of percentages.Now that we know that there are more than a million Steam Decks sold, you can calculate the absolute numbers. Its something about 5.8 million Linux users and a total number of 450 million users (according to my math)
Last edited by Vardamir on 4 Oct 2022 at 4:06 pm UTC
For this month, the Linux share will be higher. I had the survey yesterday. 😁
*ROFL*
Received the survey on PC a few days ago ... and now just also on my Steam Deck!
2x Linux! This month the survey should go through the roof! *gg*
Last edited by KuJo on 4 Oct 2022 at 11:53 pm UTC
For this month, the Linux share will be higher. I had the survey yesterday. 😁
*ROFL*
Received the survey on PC a few days ago ... and now just also on my Steam Deck!
2x Linux! This month the survey should go through the roof! *gg*
*gimli voice* it still only counts as one
Seriously though, all you computers will display it for a few days at the beginning of the month if you're selected.
I used to switch to my more powerful machine to answer it.
Patreon
PayPal
An idiots guide to setting up Minecraft on Steam Deck / SteamOS with controller support
How to install extra software, apps and games on SteamOS and Steam Deck
See more from me