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Something magical appears to be happening on Steam. Not only is Linux above 1% for another month but we've now seen 6 months of it continuing to rise. Going by our own historical stats, this makes it the highest it has been for over 3 years too.

When filtering to just Linux on the Steam Hardware Survey here's the most popular distributions:

  • Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS 64 bit 16.87%
  • "Manjaro Linux" 64 bit 11.83%
  • Arch Linux 64 bit 11.57%
  • Pop!_OS 21.04 64 bit 7.99%
  • Linux Mint 20.2 64 bit 6.64%
  • Ubuntu 21.04 64 bit 5.48%

There's also the Steam Flatpak listed but that's a cross-distribution thing.


Source - our Steam Tracker.

Initially their comparison percentages seemed to be comparing against August data. Valve corrected that now so they're looking right based on what they showed last month with Linux seeing a 0.08% increase.

Compared with historical data, Linux is going up dramatically (relatively speaking - for Linux) compared to the last few years. What is pushing this up though? That's still the big question. It seems likely at this point the Steam Deck hype and continued Steam Play Proton improvements just keep pulling in new users excited by it all. If all you care about is clicking Play on Steam, things have never been this good for Linux gaming.

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 came back to check 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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Guppy Nov 2, 2021
Have they automated the hardware survey? I don't think I've had the popup in a couple of years now 🤔
Liam Dawe Nov 2, 2021
Quoting: GuppyHave they automated the hardware survey? I don't think I've had the popup in a couple of years now 🤔
Nope, still opt-in if you get it. A lot of people don't which makes them think it's broken but it's a survey, you're not meant to get it constantly. I believe it's more likely if something big changed, which is part of the point for it to show what people are now using (which is why some dual-booters see it when switching).
lucinos Nov 2, 2021
I would guess a big part of the flatpak is fedora, if I am not mistaken they push it more than other distros.
dubigrasu Nov 2, 2021
Recently I had it (the survey) three times in a single day.
I didn't had any hardware changes (which is also likely to trigger it), just some various distros testing.
lucinos Nov 2, 2021
Quoting: dubigrasuRecently I had it (the survey) three times in a single day.
I didn't had any hardware changes (which is also likely to trigger it), just some various distros testing.

Surveys for me are a bit rare, I actually had one yesterday and the previous was more than a year ago I think but every time I get the survey, I get it on every machine I login that day, yesterday I got two surveys.
Eike Nov 2, 2021
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Windows 11 might play a role as well.
lucinos Nov 2, 2021
Quoting: EikeWindows 11 might play a role as well.
They already have more marketshare than linux :(
Ehvis Nov 2, 2021
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I got my survey again early October. So still pretty much getting them once a year.
Eike Nov 2, 2021
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Quoting: EhvisI got my survey again early October. So still pretty much getting them once a year.

When I got mine, it always was on first of the respective month.
Eike Nov 2, 2021
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QuoteNot only is Linux above 1% for another month but we've now seen 4 months of it continuing to rise.

If you look very close, it's even 6 months. ;)
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