A fresh month, which means a new Steam Hardware & Software Survey is out. Looking over the October 2022 data, it appears we've hit a fresh high point.
At the end of October, Linux hit 1.28% on Steam against 2.23% on macOS and 96.50% on Windows. Going by our Steam Tracker, where we've been tracking the Linux user share for a few years, it is the highest it's been in over 4 years now! Still tiny compared with Windows of course but it's some clear steady progress.
This growth at the moment is largely thanks to the Steam Deck, which you probably already guessed. That much is clear when looking over the Linux-specific data page on the Steam Survey which shows these as the top Linux distributions:
- SteamOS Holo 64 bit 24.98% +7.94%
- Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS 64 bit 12.27% -0.21%
- Arch Linux 64 bit 9.12% -1.45%
- Manjaro Linux 64 bit 6.92% -0.88%
- Freedesktop.org SDK 22.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 5.71% +0.90%
- Other 40.99% -2.00%
SteamOS (at least going by that list on face value) is the most popular Linux distribution for gamers on Steam, by a wide margin there too with the caveat being we don't know exactly what's in the "Other" category, which could be full of various forms of Ubuntu that could push it to the top when added together.
When checking further, in the GPU list for Linux, the growth is clear with it noting that "AMD Custom GPU 0405" (the Steam Deck) has hit 25.01% (+7.94%). I should note as well, that this GPU still doesn't even show up when filtering to just Windows and so it's clear that the vast majority of gamers on Steam Deck are sticking to SteamOS which goes to show just how good it is as an experience overall.
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It's interesting to see how this is turning out over time. I was a Mac user between 2004 and 2008, and the gaming situation (and, as far as I know, percentage) on Mac OS X back then was similar to how it is on Linux now, if not a bit worse - but with even more fighting tooth-and-nail for native game support, because there wasn't a tool like Proton! Having been there for that, I can't help but feel that we've got it pretty good on Linux these days. 
Last edited by Pengling on 2 November 2022 at 6:59 am UTC
Last edited by Pengling on 2 November 2022 at 6:59 am UTC
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StoneColdSpider Nov 2, 2022
A new high point? w00t!
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Quoting: PenglingIt's interesting to see how this is turning out over time. I was a Mac user between 2004 and 2008, and the gaming situation (and, as far as I know, percentage) on Mac OS X back then was similar to how it is on Linux now, if not a bit worse...The difference is that there went a lot of work into making Linux a gaming platform. Whereas Apple keeps undermining their platform. MacOS is the only mainstream platform where Vulkan is not supported, and OpenGL is stuck on version 4.1 (2010), so you are forced to use their proprietary Metal API. Switch to ARM processors is objectively not a bad thing, but it does make the burden of supporting games on macOS even worse, especially when taking into account old games. Not to mention the hostile licensing to even be allowed to develop anything on macOS.
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hardpenguin Nov 2, 2022
I wonder how high it can go :)
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It's also the seventh month with shares above the long term trend line. It might be worth to draw two trend lines: one before the release of Steam Deck and another after the release - this might give better predictions for the future.
OTH, we had a strong growth over most of 2021, followed by a collapse in early 2022, so maybe half a year is too short to play around with trends.
OTH, we had a strong growth over most of 2021, followed by a collapse in early 2022, so maybe half a year is too short to play around with trends.
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I was a bit surprised when i got the hardware survey prompt on my deck. Somehow would have thought they don't need the survey they... ^^
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The climax may be reached in the next couples of years when 1/ microsoft will end its low-cost key politics to fight against piracy and 2/ if they really make the new incoming windows with yearly or monthly subscription, as they have begun with Office and as rumor says about this next windows '12'?
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Quoting: Geppeto35The climax may be reached in the next couples of years when 1/ microsoft will end its low-cost key politics to fight against piracy and 2/ if they really make the new incoming windows with yearly or monthly subscription, as they have begun with Office and as rumor says about this next windows '12'?
I'm so glad, I don't need Windows any more, even for work. :)
Yet there have been so many things Microsoft did that made us think people would migrate to Linux... it sadly never really happened. 3rd party support, MS Office and laziness...
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BlackBloodRum Nov 2, 2022
Quoting: constIn fairness, it doesn't help that most people don't know how to switch their OS etc. They just use the OS that comes with the computer or have misguided beliefs of what is required of switching.Quoting: Geppeto35The climax may be reached in the next couples of years when 1/ microsoft will end its low-cost key politics to fight against piracy and 2/ if they really make the new incoming windows with yearly or monthly subscription, as they have begun with Office and as rumor says about this next windows '12'?
I'm so glad, I don't need Windows any more, even for work. :)
Yet there have been so many things Microsoft did that made us think people would migrate to Linux... it sadly never really happened. 3rd party support, MS Office and laziness...
You should also bear in mind, not all gamers are techies either. Sure, they know their way around games but if you ask them to explain in detail about the basics of an OS like how filesystems, kernels and programming languages work chances are high they simply couldn't (without google).
But it's perfectly fine, they don't have to know those things, and nor should they. They just need to know how to play their games.
This is where the Steam Deck works its magic; it comes pre-installed with Linux out the box, no tweaking, it just works. And that is how you get people to switch to Linux.
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It's also interesting to see that german continues to increase its Linux share, currently at 3.18% with Russian only at 1.96%.
@Liam might be time to include it in the Steam Tracker, since it continues to outperform Russian, Spanish and Simplified Chinese on Linux.
@Liam might be time to include it in the Steam Tracker, since it continues to outperform Russian, Spanish and Simplified Chinese on Linux.
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Quoting: LamdarerIt's also interesting to see that german continues to increase its Linux share, currently at 3.18% with Russian only at 1.96%.I will look to add more but it's very time consuming, especially as I need the data from each month and some are missing in the wayback machine.
@Liam might be time to include it in the Steam Tracker, since it continues to outperform Russian, Spanish and Simplified Chinese on Linux.
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Mohandevir Nov 2, 2022
No doubt the Steam Deck is pushing forward Linux gaming and it's a great news, but...
I would like to be reassured that this is not just an anomaly caused by a bad hardware identification on Windows. Until proof of the contrary, I'll keep my rose tinted glasses.
QuoteI should note as well, that this GPU still doesn't even show up when filtering to just Windows
I would like to be reassured that this is not just an anomaly caused by a bad hardware identification on Windows. Until proof of the contrary, I'll keep my rose tinted glasses.
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Quoting: LinasThe difference is that there went a lot of work into making Linux a gaming platform. Whereas Apple keeps undermining their platform. MacOS is the only mainstream platform where Vulkan is not supported, and OpenGL is stuck on version 4.1 (2010), so you are forced to use their proprietary Metal API. Switch to ARM processors is objectively not a bad thing, but it does make the burden of supporting games on macOS even worse, especially when taking into account old games. Not to mention the hostile licensing to even be allowed to develop anything on macOS.Exactly this - gaming on Macs back then was a terrible moving target (I can't comment on now, but from what I've heard it's gotten worse in a number of ways), and it wasn't all that great even for folks like me who do a lot of retro emulation. As far as I can see, Linux has reached the point it's at quicker than MacOS did entirely because huge efforts have been put into making it gaming-friendly from all over the place.
Last edited by Pengling on 2 November 2022 at 1:20 pm UTC
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wit_as_a_riddle Nov 2, 2022
Quoting: 1mHfoksd1ZQuotethe vast majority of gamers on Steam Deck are sticking to SteamOS which goes to show just how good it is as an experience overallAnd how bad of an experience Windows is.
SteamOS is pretty good (not perfect at all tho), but honestly, it would have to be pretty damn bad for Windows to be the better option.
Windows is fine on desktops, but on touch devices and even more so on handheld devices such as the Deck (gamepad + touch) it just doesn't cut it.
Let me begin by making it clear I hate Windows. There, now that's out of the way I can mention how Valve recently added the ability to use game mode aka the new big picture mode to the desktop client. This means windows users are able to use the new SteamOS UI, even boot right into it if they want.
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Mohandevir Nov 2, 2022
Quoting: wit_as_a_riddleQuoting: 1mHfoksd1ZQuotethe vast majority of gamers on Steam Deck are sticking to SteamOS which goes to show just how good it is as an experience overallAnd how bad of an experience Windows is.
SteamOS is pretty good (not perfect at all tho), but honestly, it would have to be pretty damn bad for Windows to be the better option.
Windows is fine on desktops, but on touch devices and even more so on handheld devices such as the Deck (gamepad + touch) it just doesn't cut it.
Let me begin by making it clear I hate Windows. There, now that's out of the way I can mention how Valve recently added the ability to use game mode aka the new big picture mode to the desktop client. This means windows users are able to use the new SteamOS UI, even boot right into it if they want.
Yep, but at least, it's only a graphical overhaul of the initial BPM. It lacks all the SteamOS features that makes it even more awesome (fps caps, AMD FSR, fast resume, etc...). These features require the SteamOS "backbone" (read Gamescope/Proton) to run. These menu entries are already getting removed from the BPM desktop client. You get the look & feel, but not the meat.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 2 November 2022 at 2:49 pm UTC
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Quoting: constQuoting: Geppeto35The climax may be reached in the next couples of years when 1/ microsoft will end its low-cost key politics to fight against piracy and 2/ if they really make the new incoming windows with yearly or monthly subscription, as they have begun with Office and as rumor says about this next windows '12'?
I'm so glad, I don't need Windows any more, even for work. :)
Yet there have been so many things Microsoft did that made us think people would migrate to Linux... it sadly never really happened. 3rd party support, MS Office and laziness...
And microsoft knows very well why (and reinforces it): https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in#Microsoft
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Quoting: LightkeySimplified Chinese users (where Linux usage is near zero)Really, someone's gotta do something about that.
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Quoting: TermyI was a bit surprised when i got the hardware survey prompt on my deck. Somehow would have thought they don't need the survey they... ^^
Technically they don't need it anywhere but they decided to make it voluntary.
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I'd like to add a bit Windows-centric view on the lack of Deck APU on Windows survey. Sure, partly it's to SteamOS being good fit. And no, Win on touch UI hasn't be all that bad since like 5-6 years at least (had 8" dual boot tablet to prove it, it barely saw any Android action). And it (probably) isn't due to faulty hardware detection.
What actually keeps Windows from Deck (and Deck from Windows) is abysmal Windows support from Valve. They obviously have limited resources, and they're putting all the effort into SteamOS. And rightly so! But that also means Windows is bot just 2nd class citizen on Deck, it's outright unsupported.
This page is summing it all up:
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6121-eccd-d643-baa8
Want Windows?
You lose SteamOS.
Drivers are old.
Performance suffers.
So no sane person does it, except as an exercise in futility.
Btw, frame limiting is easy in Windows, haven't had Radeon in several years, but with Nvidia it's few clicks in driver. Same with FSR. But when even audio support was flaky until recently, who cares about FPS limiting when you don't have proper audio.
Again not saying anything about SteamOS, they're doing great. And that's exactly even more why Deck without dual boot support is a no-go. Once SteamOS bootloader starts supporting dual boot of SteamOS + Windows, I can assure you at least quarter of Deck owners will start dual booting. Because (working) dual boot is just a bonus. Have a game that doesn't work in OS "A"? Try in OS "B". Simple.
Btw, I also think trending lines should be separate, up to Feb 2022, and new one after that.
What actually keeps Windows from Deck (and Deck from Windows) is abysmal Windows support from Valve. They obviously have limited resources, and they're putting all the effort into SteamOS. And rightly so! But that also means Windows is bot just 2nd class citizen on Deck, it's outright unsupported.
This page is summing it all up:
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6121-eccd-d643-baa8
Want Windows?
You lose SteamOS.
Drivers are old.
Performance suffers.
So no sane person does it, except as an exercise in futility.
Btw, frame limiting is easy in Windows, haven't had Radeon in several years, but with Nvidia it's few clicks in driver. Same with FSR. But when even audio support was flaky until recently, who cares about FPS limiting when you don't have proper audio.
Again not saying anything about SteamOS, they're doing great. And that's exactly even more why Deck without dual boot support is a no-go. Once SteamOS bootloader starts supporting dual boot of SteamOS + Windows, I can assure you at least quarter of Deck owners will start dual booting. Because (working) dual boot is just a bonus. Have a game that doesn't work in OS "A"? Try in OS "B". Simple.
Btw, I also think trending lines should be separate, up to Feb 2022, and new one after that.
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So, with the new trend line, world domination in 50 years rather than 200?
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