Another month gone, and another Steam Hardware Survey to take a look at. This month we have an unfortunate drop in numbers.
Linux results for March 2015
Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS 64 bit 0.28%-0.02%
Ubuntu 14.10 64 bit 0.12%-0.03%
Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca 64 bit 0.09%-0.02%
Linux 3.10 64 bit 0.08%-0.01%
Total: 0.94%-0.11%
Last Month: 1.06%
It's also interesting to note that for Linux the Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip is the most popular. Intel actually dominates the top of the GPU list it seems. My chip the powerful Nvidia 970 also looks to be quickly rising up.
My thoughts on it
It's always sad to see a decline, but we're talking about such low percentages here it's anyone's guess what happened.
It still remains to be seen how Steam Machines will be counted (if at all). On desktop operating systems you need to manually opt-in if it asks you, so will they go through that for SteamOS? I've actually shot off a message to Valve to see if they could clarify how this will be done.
Important things to remember
Be aware these results will probably not be that accurate as we don't know how they do their percentage results, they could be rounding up, rounding down or truncating the percentages. So a 0.5% could actually be nearly 0.6% as it could be 0.59% but they could do no rounding and simply truncate it.
Also remember it is a survey, so it won't ask every single one of you to do it. It would only be truly accurate if it did it behind the scenes, but that's not what a survey is for as this is just to get a general idea.
Final Note: Look at it this way, Steam has around 125 million active users, 1% of 125 million is about 1,250,000 people. What developer wouldn't want to hook into a market that's possibly that big? Of course it doesn't mean they are guaranteed that amount of sales, but it's something fun to remember.
See the Hardware Survey on Steam here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Linux results for March 2015
Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS 64 bit 0.28%-0.02%
Ubuntu 14.10 64 bit 0.12%-0.03%
Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca 64 bit 0.09%-0.02%
Linux 3.10 64 bit 0.08%-0.01%
Total: 0.94%-0.11%
Last Month: 1.06%
It's also interesting to note that for Linux the Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip is the most popular. Intel actually dominates the top of the GPU list it seems. My chip the powerful Nvidia 970 also looks to be quickly rising up.
My thoughts on it
It's always sad to see a decline, but we're talking about such low percentages here it's anyone's guess what happened.
It still remains to be seen how Steam Machines will be counted (if at all). On desktop operating systems you need to manually opt-in if it asks you, so will they go through that for SteamOS? I've actually shot off a message to Valve to see if they could clarify how this will be done.
Important things to remember
Be aware these results will probably not be that accurate as we don't know how they do their percentage results, they could be rounding up, rounding down or truncating the percentages. So a 0.5% could actually be nearly 0.6% as it could be 0.59% but they could do no rounding and simply truncate it.
Also remember it is a survey, so it won't ask every single one of you to do it. It would only be truly accurate if it did it behind the scenes, but that's not what a survey is for as this is just to get a general idea.
Final Note: Look at it this way, Steam has around 125 million active users, 1% of 125 million is about 1,250,000 people. What developer wouldn't want to hook into a market that's possibly that big? Of course it doesn't mean they are guaranteed that amount of sales, but it's something fun to remember.
See the Hardware Survey on Steam here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The comments on this article are closed.
GTAV and Elite: Dangerous most likely pushed Windows usage numbers a lot higher than usual. Both OS X and Linux drops indicate that.
Can we have better way to calculate Linux gaming size?
Can we have better way to calculate Linux gaming size?
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Nothing to worry about, like Pecisk said, this is likely due to GTA:V on Windows.
Just imagine what the numbers would show if GTA V was released as a Linux exclusive on PC, instead of Windows..
Just imagine what the numbers would show if GTA V was released as a Linux exclusive on PC, instead of Windows..
3 Likes, Who?
I blamed GTA V for this too :D. I do not like that game myself but I know many people who logged in again in steam only because of GTA V.
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I got the steam survey for the first time in over a year on Linux last night, so don't know if I am in those numbers or not, but I haven't been counted for months, and I haven't gamed on windows since before Christmas.
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Quoting: WorMzyNothing to worry about, like Pecisk said, this is likely due to GTA:V on Windows.
Just imagine what the numbers would show if GTA V was released as a Linux exclusive on PC, instead of Windows..
Well thats easy to imagine, the newbie support threads in the Ubuntu and Mint forums would have totally crashed :P
Also I agree with Pecisk too.
2 Likes, Who?
leillo1975 May 6, 2015
I too am guilty of this. Because of GTA V, I'm using Windows in the last weeks
1 Likes, Who?
Yup, it does seem that GTA is the most likely culprit.
Having said that....my "steam-wishlist" is shock-full of titles that are either "Windows Only", "Windows & Mac Only" or "Windows & Mac and maybe/possibly Linux sometime in a future far,far away..."
I'd be lying if I said the frustration isn't getting to me.
Having said that....my "steam-wishlist" is shock-full of titles that are either "Windows Only", "Windows & Mac Only" or "Windows & Mac and maybe/possibly Linux sometime in a future far,far away..."
I'd be lying if I said the frustration isn't getting to me.
1 Likes, Who?
Yeah, GTA 5 could be the reason, but I love the game and I hope that one day will hit the Linux/SteamOS too.
But imagine percentage if HL3 would be only announced as exclusive for SteamOS/Linux. I guess Linux would immediately swap positions with mac. :D
But imagine percentage if HL3 would be only announced as exclusive for SteamOS/Linux. I guess Linux would immediately swap positions with mac. :D
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Avehicle7887 May 6, 2015
Not counting the ones that don't participate in the survey, the numbers are probably higher. I don't use Steam but I buy Linux exclusive games on GoG and occasionally Humble Bundle too.
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