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A moment I've no doubt many Linux fans have been waiting to see. The Linux user share on Steam has smashed through the 2% barrier.

Not actually for the first time though, it did initially rise up above 2% in March 2013, shortly after the original Steam for Linux release when it left Beta. Part of the reason it had higher numbers at the start, was that Valve added a special Tux item into Team Fortress 2 only on Linux but it quickly dropped in the following months.

With the latest info though from the May 2024 survey, Linux has now hit 2.32%.

  • Windows 96.21% -0.55%
  • Linux 2.32% +0.42%
  • macOS 1.47% +0.12%

If I have my historical data correct, we haven't seen Linux be over 2% since 2013. Take into account the explosive growth of Steam as a platform and that's quite a lot of people now. Mostly thanks to Steam Deck.

See it over time on our Steam Tracker page.

The Linux distribution breakdown:

  • SteamOS Holo 64 bit 45.34% +3.01%
  • Arch Linux 64 bit 7.90% -0.34%
  • Freedesktop SDK 23.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 6.05% +0.04%
  • Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS 64 bit 4.76% -1.37%
  • Linux Mint 21.3 64 bit 4.23% -0.16%
  • Manjaro Linux 64 bit 3.18% -0.19%
  • Ubuntu Core 22 64 bit 2.62% +2.62% (Steam Snap)
  • Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS 64 bit 2.57% +2.57%
  • Other 23.98% -5.55%

See more on the Steam Survey.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly.
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Naib Jun 17
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got it...

if this course continues... January 2027 we should be at 8%


Last edited by Naib on 17 June 2024 at 10:17 pm UTC
based Jun 19
The -0.55% on Windows is more surprising to me
alexleduc Jun 20
It's nice to know that the other 55% of people gaming on Linux are doing it on regular PCs. Since there are millions of Steam Deck sold, that could mean millions of PCs used for gaming on Linux.

In other news, the stat counter worldwide desktop market share survey has been plummeting back down from its 4.05% milestone in March. It's at 3.77% in the May results.


Last edited by alexleduc on 20 June 2024 at 1:00 pm UTC
Anza Jun 20
Quoting: alexleducIt's nice to know that the other 55% of people gaming on Linux are doing it on regular PCs. Since there are millions of Steam Deck sold, that could mean millions of PCs used for gaming on Linux.

In other news, the stat counter worldwide desktop market share survey has been plummeting back down from its 4.05% milestone in March. It's at 3.77% in the May results.

Real world is messy and there are fluctuations into both directions. What matters is the longer trend, too bad Statcounter doesn't display that. Data can be exported though, so if somebody would want to do more useful graph, it's possible.
Quoting: alexleducIn other news, the stat counter worldwide desktop market share survey has been plummeting back down from its 4.05% milestone in March. It's at 3.77% in the May results.
Drat.
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