Well it finally happened. According to the latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey for July 2023 we can see that Linux users have overtaken macOS.
For July 2023 the rankings overall are:
- Windows 96.21% -0.56%
- macOS 1.84% +0.05%
- Linux 1.96% +0.52%
As shown on our dedicated Steam Tracker here's the Linux user share on Steam over time:
A pretty massive increase and the biggest in a single month for years. So why? Well, considering Valve just recently had a huge sale on the Steam Deck, it's probably not all that surprising. A lot of people over the last month will have been playing with their Steam Deck that ships with SteamOS Linux. So I do expect it to go down a fair bit next month as things settle down again but I imagine it will continue trending higher overall and keep pushing upwards.
Here's the current most popular Linux distributions - showing that SteamOS (Steam Deck) is the clear winner:
- SteamOS Holo 64 bit 42.07% +2.74%
- Arch Linux 64 bit 7.94% -0.39%
- Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS 64 bit 7.38% -0.49%
- Freedesktop.org SDK 22.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 5.99% -0.03%
- "Manjaro Linux" 64 bit 4.29% -0.08%
- Linux Mint 21.1 64 bit 3.84% -0.71%
- Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS 64 bit 2.97% +2.97%
- Other 25.52% -4.02%
What do you think to this news? Let us know in the comments.
See all the details on Valve's survey.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
Quoting: LamdarerThe Steam Deck does get the survey, it didn't initially at the start but that was solved a long time ago. As for you not getting it: it's random, it's a survey, not everyone gets it - that's how surveys work.Quoting: LiamA pretty massive increase and the biggest in a single month for years. So why? Well, considering Valve just recently had a huge sale on the Steam Deck, it's probably not all that surprising. A lot of people over the last month will have been playing with their Steam Deck that ships with SteamOS Linux.But Liam can that really be the reason, I might be wrong but I thought you wouldn't get surveyed on the Deck for the initial few months or so?
Also I got a Deck as well and I wasnt (at least actively) surveyed 🤔
Well anyway nice news though I expect a drop next month as well, it will be interesting to see if it swings back to "normal" or if it can at least keep parts of that share.
4 Likes, Who?
hardpenguin Aug 2, 2023
Some buzzkills on Reddit have mentioned that the reason is Mac gamers using Apple Game Porting Toolkit which uses the Windows version of the Steam client.
Somehow I don't think so, since even years back Steam was detecting Wine environment...
Somehow I don't think so, since even years back Steam was detecting Wine environment...
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Quoting: hardpenguinSome buzzkills on Reddit have mentioned that the reason is Mac gamers using Apple Game Porting Toolkit which uses the Windows version of the Steam client.
Somehow I don't think so, since even years back Steam was detecting Wine environment...
Even if it's true, it would have resulted in a decline of MacOS - which we don't see.
Last edited by Eike on 2 August 2023 at 5:01 pm UTC
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mr-victory Aug 2, 2023
Quoting: hardpenguinthe reason is Mac gamers using Apple Game Porting ToolkitThis would result in an increase in "Other" which clearly hasn't happened.
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mr-victory Aug 2, 2023
Quoting: SalvatosFinally I can start using "You have a Mac build but not a Linux build even though it has a larger market share" as an argument to convince devs to support LinuxI don't think this will work, most Mac ports were made when Mac had a higher share. (%5?) These days Mac users are ignored just like us by large publishers.
Last edited by mr-victory on 2 August 2023 at 5:32 pm UTC
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I wonder how many "Linux Deck" users would use Linux outside of the Deck.
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Quoting: kokoko3kI wonder how many "Linux Deck" users would use Linux outside of the Deck.Probably not as many at the start, but when I've looked at the Steam Deck reddit, there were many people that said that they were scared at first and then it was easier than they expected. That is exactly what we need. There is a lot of false knowledge and fear spread around by MS and lets call them influencers.
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Quoting: kokoko3kI wonder how many "Linux Deck" users would use Linux outside of the Deck."Would use" and "are currently using" are different things. There have been plenty of "I had no idea Linux was this good" anecdotes from people using the Deck. Conversion for desktop users has definitely happened, and hopefully it will continue to happen. Certainly there's much more sentiment of "Windows isn't actually that great for gaming" post-Deck and - crucially - post other handhelds that come with Windows.
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Quoting: KlaasQuoting: kokoko3kI wonder how many "Linux Deck" users would use Linux outside of the Deck.Probably not as many at the start, but when I've looked at the Steam Deck reddit, there were many people that said that they were scared at first and then it was easier than they expected. That is exactly what we need. There is a lot of false knowledge and fear spread around by MS and lets call them influencers.
I really hope you're right, but still very much afraid not!
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