We don't usually comment directly on the Steam Hardware Survey every month, not unless it's something real interesting and this is the second month where it is because we're still officially above 1%! It was actually quite big news last month because it's the highest we've seen in many years.
The trend appears to be continuing, with the August numbers up from Valve which show Linux now at 1.02%. You can see a bit of history over on our dedicated Steam Tracker.
Using the latest months recorded share that's an estimated 1,228,080 "monthly active" Linux users on Steam, based on the last data Valve gave from January 2021. Going by the data that Steam provide we can see a breakdown of the most popular Linux distributions (when filtered to just Linux) on Steam right now as these:
- Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS 64 bit - 15.77%
- Manjaro Linux 64 bit - 12.72%
- Arch Linux 64 bit - 11.14%
- Pop!_OS 21.04 64 bit - 7.36%
- Ubuntu 21.04 64 bit - 6.60%
- Linux Mint 20.2 64 bit 5.50%
You can also see that Steam Flatpak shows up being used by 5.58% of Linux/Steam users.
Want to see what systems our readers are running? Check out our statistics page.
We expect the hype around the Steam Deck and Proton getting some bigger mentions from Valve has helped. Since the Steam Deck is a Linux machine with SteamOS 3 being based on Arch Linux, it's not overly surprising to see a bump in people trying Linux out before the release.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Is it for the OS locale, or the steam language set or the country registered with the steam account?
Quoting: nenoroand 0.001% Gentoo
Probably the only one who uses gentoo and plays games on it...
I just hope Valve switches for gentoo for steam OS hue hue hue
Debian based systems in the top 5 is enough for me
Quoting: EikeQuoting: MalWhat is the adoption in the USA alone?
Nobody knows, but Liam's tracker has got the English only graph for a guess (nice increase lately!):
Liam, I'm still not sure how you're calculating it, despite reading the description. Which numbers do you use?
Wow!
I'm always tepid when it come to "1% articles". That's why I never comment them. No offence but I think that in those articles we talk just to talk, with no concrete stats to back those theories and analysis. The way I see it, we always made conjectures on error bars rather than actual data.
I'm still not sure we are actually seeing a change, but these numbers can definitely be the first recorded trace of a real trend. And yes, this is something we never seen before and also by my "picky standards" it's worth spending a word so here I am: my word is "Wow!"
Can't wait to see if in 6 months it's confirmed!
QuoteUbuntu 20.04.2 LTS 64 bit - 15.77%
Manjaro Linux 64 bit - 12.72%
Arch Linux 64 bit - 11.14%
Pop!_OS 21.04 64 bit - 7.36%
Ubuntu 21.04 64 bit - 6.60%
Hmm...? Liam, are you sure with those stats? I don't see Pop!_OS in Top5. Ubuntu 21.04 is №4 and Linux Mint 20.2 is №5.
Spoiler, click me
Quoting: TriasHmm...? Liam, are you sure with those stats? I don't see Pop!_OS in Top5. Ubuntu 21.04 is №4 and Linux Mint 20.2 is №5.
It's kind of weird. Your list is what shows on the global list, but when you filter "Linux Only", you get Liam's list. Definitely something fishy going on there.
QuoteDescription:Freedesktop.org 20.08.14 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 5.58% +5.58%
Other is still the most popular distro, with more than a third of users. Ubuntu-based is close, though, with 35.23%.
Much as I appreciate the variety of Linux distros, it would be good if that was, say, 60% Ubuntu-based and 30% Arch-based (or the other way round: I'm not pushing a particular distro) and 10% Other. That way developers only need to test one to be representative of most users, and two to be representative of the great majority of users. We can say that's what they should do, but it's better if Steam's charts show that too.
Last edited by CatKiller on 2 September 2021 at 4:17 pm UTC
Quoting: nenoroand 0.001% Gentoo
Probably the only one who uses gentoo and plays games on it...
I just hope Valve switches for gentoo for steam OS hue hue hue
Not the only one for sure, I use Gentoo and play games. Gentoo is just not for everybody and that's OK. If people find installing Arch hard, telling them to unpack the base operating system in order to compile the rest might be bit too much.
Quoting: thoughtfulhippoActually had the survey pop-up for the first time on my daughter's account last night. That's only the third time I recall getting asked across 4 accounts and 7 years.This month I was also asked for the first time since I switched to Linux from Windows(like ~1-2 years ago) and probably the second time ever.
The survey is such a mystery!
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