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Pretty much as expected, the Linux user share overall on Steam has dropped off a bit with the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for September 2024.

We almost always see the Linux user share drop, when Simplified Chinese as a language on Steam rises due to the popularity of Windows in China and just the massive amount of people there that cause the spikes to happen. Especially so with continued popularity of Black Myth: Wukong.

Here's the overall user share per operating system:

  • Windows 96.84% +0.06%
  • Linux 1.87% -0.05%
  • macOS 1.29% -0.01%

Looking at our dedicated Steam Tracker, it's well within the expected trend still overall:

Specifically on the Linux side here's the most-used distributions:

  • SteamOS Holo 64bit (Steam Deck) 39.20% -1.28%
  • Arch Linux 64bit 8.66% +0.44%
  • Freedesktop SDK 23.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64bit 6.03% -0.20%
  • Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS 64bit 4.03% +4.03%
  • Linux Mint 22 64bit 3.73% +0.75%
  • Ubuntu Core 22 64bit 3.30% +0.33%
  • "Manjaro Linux" 64bit 3.04% +0.09%
  • Linux Mint 21.3 64bit 2.72% -0.87%
  • Other 29.27% +6.69%

See more on the Steam Survey.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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29 comments
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MayeulC Oct 2
Quoting: mphuZ
Quoting: LinasCCP
CPC

Pretty sure it's CCP for Chinese Communist Party in English (in French that would be PCC).

Quoting: CyborgZetaI'm surprised the Steam Flatpak is that high. I see more than a few people around the Web explicitly not recommend using the Steam Flatpak. Even I quit using it a while back during that AppArmor bug in Ubuntu that made certain Flatpaks, such as Steam, unusable for a time.

Well, it works very well for me, avoids cluttering my home with random game files, I don't require multilib on my system, and it sandboxes proprietary applications (games are not known for their good security practices). I've been using it for years, and only had the occasional issue (such as CEF sandboxing initially not working in Gmod).
Leahi84 Oct 2
Why are there so many Chinese users on Steam? I thought they have their own version created for the Chinese market?
TheSHEEEP Oct 2
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Quoting: Leahi84Why are there so many Chinese users on Steam? I thought they have their own version created for the Chinese market?
That's true afaik, but A) They might work around that "restriction" and B) who knows if both versions don't count into the same statistic.
mphuZ Oct 2
Quoting: MayeulCPretty sure it's CCP for Chinese Communist Party in English
Of course not
Spoiler, click me

Correct writing - Communist Party of China. There is even an official website.
This is how you should write in official and business correspondence.

The writing CCP is used to stigmatize the name of the Communist Party (for example, how is Sheena offensive instead of China). CPC - "Communist Party of China", I mean, there is China and she is a communist party in it.

CCP - a distorted version, the "Chinese Communist Party", is used in the West to promote the discourse "there are many communist parties, the Chinese have a separate one", the obvious consequence of which is the decoupling of the structure from the state with the name China. She is not China, she is the Chinese. Some subset of the Chinese. Without a country, different Chinese are just running around the globe, and sometimes they organize something there. I'm already silent about the fact that the abbreviation CCP is very similar to the СССР (USSR), although it is not written in Cyrillic. Do you understand the reference to the terrible communists?

They also like to distort the spelling and pronunciation - SeeSeePee. You can search the search networks and make sure which contingent uses it.
Linas Oct 2
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Quoting: mphuZ
Quoting: MayeulCPretty sure it's CCP for Chinese Communist Party in English
Of course not
I'm sorry, I really don't see what distinction are you trying to make here. I was simply referring to the ruling party in China. You know, the one and only.
Quoting: pbPersonally I find this fascinating that China is so Windows-centric. It might be because there's no IP laws and a lot of these are pirated copies of Windows (so basically free as in beer), but still, it's an American product, I would think its use would be discouraged at the very least. I guess Red Flag Linux didn't gain as much popularity as they hoped it would. ;-)

On the other hand, Linux is an open system while Windows is fully controlled plus they might have some deal in place for backdoors and stuff, so everyone is happy (I mean the corporation and the government).

When I visited a few factories there the major factor was support for certain applications, usually CAD and graphics.

Linux has only two decent commercial CAD apps: BricsCAD, and ARES Commander. Both of which are stuck using xorg crap. There is also Varicad but the interface for that is dogshit to put it mildly - think of a late 90's windows app with icon buttons EVERYWHERE. And yeah there is web based CAD now but many really do not want their stuff stored on servers externally.

Everyone seems to know the story with graphics stuff.
pb Oct 2
Quoting: Luke_NukemWhen I visited a few factories there the major factor was support for certain applications, usually CAD and graphics.

I'm sorry, I didn't know most of the gaming in China happened at factories. ;-)
Of course specialised software support is a major pain point for Linux, but we're talking about steam survey here, at least I was. :-)
Quoting: mphuZNot for long. In the next 1-2 years, the Chinese will significantly completely abandon Windows (even pirated versions will be cut) and switch to HarmonyOS.

They write that its microkernel is 3 times more efficient than Linux.

If China claimed that in the next 5 years they will land on the sun would you believe it? Talk is cheap.

Quoting: mphuZ
Quoting: MayeulCPretty sure it's CCP for Chinese Communist Party in English
Of course not

Notice how he used the words "In English". You can call it whatever you want. In any case it's the same entity it's been for the last century and changing the name is an act of censorship to expunge the events of the last 100 years from history.

But hey, we saw Chinese SARS/Influenza changed to "The Spanish Flu" in the early 1900s and Wuhan Penumonia in the 2020s quietly changed to COVID and we certainly made sure that after Greek Alphabet Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gama variants that we didn't have a Xi (She) variant even though Ebola is named after a river, and Lymes are named after a geographical location as well. I guess naming convention rules don't apply and English can be subjected to walk on eggshells of people who don't even speak it.

If you want to refer to North Korea in English as the proper name "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" -- go ahead.

Cuba refers to itself as a "People's Democracy" https://wikiless.org/wiki/Politics_of_Cuba?lang=en#Legislature

You can call things Democracies and Republics if you want.

Many of us will not participate.
Quoting: Linas
Quoting: mphuZ
Quoting: MayeulCPretty sure it's CCP for Chinese Communist Party in English
Of course not
I'm sorry, I really don't see what distinction are you trying to make here. I was simply referring to the ruling party in China. You know, the one and only.

Whats the distinction between "America" and "AmeriKKKa"? Its the same here.

Also there are about 25 parties in China
Quoting: ElectricPrism
Quoting: mphuZNot for long. In the next 1-2 years, the Chinese will significantly completely abandon Windows (even pirated versions will be cut) and switch to HarmonyOS.

They write that its microkernel is 3 times more efficient than Linux.

If China claimed that in the next 5 years they will land on the sun would you believe it? Talk is cheap.

Quoting: mphuZ
Quoting: MayeulCPretty sure it's CCP for Chinese Communist Party in English
Of course not

Notice how he used the words "In English". You can call it whatever you want. In any case it's the same entity it's been for the last century and changing the name is an act of censorship to expunge the events of the last 100 years from history.

But hey, we saw Chinese SARS/Influenza changed to "The Spanish Flu" in the early 1900s and Wuhan Penumonia in the 2020s quietly changed to COVID and we certainly made sure that after Greek Alphabet Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gama variants that we didn't have a Xi (She) variant even though Ebola is named after a river, and Lymes are named after a geographical location as well. I guess naming convention rules don't apply and English can be subjected to walk on eggshells of people who don't even speak it.

If you want to refer to North Korea in English as the proper name "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" -- go ahead.

Cuba refers to itself as a "People's Democracy" https://wikiless.org/wiki/Politics_of_Cuba?lang=en#Legislature

You can call things Democracies and Republics if you want.

Many of us will not participate.

If you are referring to something, try to make an effort to refer to it by the proper name. The proper English name is "CPC".

Also, DPRK is actually quite democratic with representation of all social levels in the National Assembly. Just because you see propaganda about "how bad it is", doesnt make it true

As for Linux support - its mandated in government organizations and government companies, just like in Russia. But unlike Russia, many of the government companies run on Chinas homegrown processors.


Last edited by Cato-the-younger on 2 October 2024 at 9:26 pm UTC
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