The latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey is out for May 2022, and while it sees a tiny drop in the overall Linux user share, we can see the Steam Deck rising up. As usual, our dedicated Steam Tracker has been updated for the latest figures, with a screenshot of the current status below for all to see:
Currently the overall Linux share is 1.12%. Still a pretty clear upwards trend, and drops in a couple months are to be expected as that's just how things go. No doubt it will bounce up again within a couple months. The interesting thing to see now though, is how the Steam Deck will affect it since Valve actually hooked up the survey in a recent Steam Deck update.
When filtering to just Linux, here's the current top:
- "Arch Linux" 64 bit 12.85% +0.53%
- Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS 64 bit 11.75% -2.53%
- "Manjaro Linux" 64 bit 11.09% -0.46%
- Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 64 bit 8.04% +8.04%
- Linux Mint 20.3 64 bit 5.97% -0.39%
- "SteamOS Holo" 64 bit 5.23% +5.23%
- Other 45.07% +6.46%
So it might look like Arch Linux is on top at a quick glance, but not quite, since you need to take into account the various versions of Ubuntu as people tend to stick to LTS releases for years. The real interesting thing to see though is SteamOS Holo, which is the Arch-based Steam Deck operating system already hitting well over 5% of Linux users on Steam. Not only that, the Steam Deck GPU "AMD AMD Custom GPU 0405" is shown as the second most popular already for just Linux systems on Steam.
Using May's 1.12% share, that puts Linux users at around ~1,478,400 estimated "monthly active users" based on the last time Valve gave out their user data. You could say that to be around ~77,320 Steam Deck users, although keep in mind it’s an additional device for a lot of people, it depends where the survey is taken. The actual number is likely higher.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Could we overtake Mac this year, thanks to the Steam Deck?
10 Likes
damarrin 2 Jun 2022
You realise it’s 5% of 1%, which means 0.05% of all users?
9 Likes
Beamboom 2 Jun 2022
You realise it’s 5% of 1%, which means 0.05% of all users?Oh daaaayyyymn... No I didn't think of that. DUH!
Ok so THAT's a lot less impressive indeed. Damn. It's barely anything at all.
Last edited by Beamboom on 2 Jun 2022 at 8:54 am UTC
1 Likes
fenglengshun 2 Jun 2022
I did my part this month- I actually got my first Steam Survey prompt since going to Linux this Monday.
Not that I moved much of a needle, since I was using newer distro (Garuda Linux). Though I'm tempted to try Nobara (AUR is just so convenient tho).
Not that I moved much of a needle, since I was using newer distro (Garuda Linux). Though I'm tempted to try Nobara (AUR is just so convenient tho).
1 Likes
Well you have to give it time, there are tens of millions of computers out there, the Steam Deck has only been out for a few months and lots of backorders have not been fulfilled yet. It is going to be two or three years before we may see significant volumes.You realise it’s 5% of 1%, which means 0.05% of all users?Oh daaaayyyymn... No I didn't think of that. DUH!
Ok so THAT's a lot less impressive indeed. Damn. It's barely anything at all.
11 Likes
ElectricPrism 2 Jun 2022
Yes, I have a Steam Deck, It's way more awesome than I ever could have hoped, you may touch the fringe of my sleeves.
10 Likes
You realise it’s 5% of 1%, which means 0.05% of all users?Oh daaaayyyymn... No I didn't think of that. DUH!
Ok so THAT's a lot less impressive indeed. Damn. It's barely anything at all.
I mean, I got a reservation like 2 weeks ago now and I have to wait till October to get mine. It's gonna be a while for most other people, too.
2 Likes
toor 2 Jun 2022
You realise it’s 5% of 1%, which means 0.05% of all users?Oh daaaayyyymn... No I didn't think of that. DUH!
Ok so THAT's a lot less impressive indeed. Damn. It's barely anything at all.
I mean, I got a reservation like 2 weeks ago now and I have to wait till October to get mine. It's gonna be a while for most other people, too.
October might be a bit too optimistic. I ordered 3 days after the beginning of preorders last year, and still haven't got it so far
3 Likes
infernelu 2 Jun 2022
I did my part this month- I actually got my first Steam Survey prompt since going to Linux this Monday.Using Nobara this last 2 weeks. No problems so far. Loving it.
Not that I moved much of a needle, since I was using newer distro (Garuda Linux). Though I'm tempted to try Nobara (AUR is just so convenient tho).
1 Likes
kit89 2 Jun 2022
Remember that the Steam Deck is likely to be a user's auxiliary gaming machine, the percentage shown is not an actual representation of the number of Steam Deck users. It's likely to be the case that was the percentage of users using a Steam Deck when the survey was initiated.
0 Likes
Mohandevir 2 Jun 2022
Got the survey twice, yesterday, when I tried different Distros on an old laptop (Kubuntu and Manjaro). 
2 Likes
Mohandevir 2 Jun 2022
Remember that the Steam Deck is likely to be a user's auxiliary gaming machine.
Quite sure you are right, but I see a lot of posts, in Steam Deck forums, that looks like: "I'm knew to PC gaming and just started buying games on Steam. Any recommendations?"
That kind of people are less likely to be tempted by dualbooting/installing Windows on it. They will probably use the Steam Deck as is and grow the number of Linux users.
Let's hope it becomes a bigger trend, over time.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 2 Jun 2022 at 1:12 pm UTC
5 Likes
mr-victory 2 Jun 2022
I noticed something:
* Limiting the survey to Linux and listing the videocard description puts Steam Deck GPU to ~%5, Linux share is ~%1. So roughly %0.05 of PCs are Steam Decks running Linux. We already know this.
* Limiting the survey to Windows only and listing Vulkan GPUs list various GPUs. At the bottom of the list there are GPUs with less than %0.01 usage and an "Other" entry. The Steam Deck GPU (AMD Custom APU 0405) doesn't appear so it goes to "Other. In other words Decks running Windows are less than %0.01.
So, victory?
Last edited by mr-victory on 2 Jun 2022 at 1:45 pm UTC
* Limiting the survey to Linux and listing the videocard description puts Steam Deck GPU to ~%5, Linux share is ~%1. So roughly %0.05 of PCs are Steam Decks running Linux. We already know this.
* Limiting the survey to Windows only and listing Vulkan GPUs list various GPUs. At the bottom of the list there are GPUs with less than %0.01 usage and an "Other" entry. The Steam Deck GPU (AMD Custom APU 0405) doesn't appear so it goes to "Other. In other words Decks running Windows are less than %0.01.
So, victory?
Last edited by mr-victory on 2 Jun 2022 at 1:45 pm UTC
8 Likes
KohlyKohl 2 Jun 2022
Got the notification on my Deck yesterday and then the 0% battery bug hit at the same time. After a hard reset, the notification was gone :(
Last edited by KohlyKohl on 2 Jun 2022 at 2:48 pm UTC
Last edited by KohlyKohl on 2 Jun 2022 at 2:48 pm UTC
0 Likes
mr-victory 2 Jun 2022
Got the survey twice, yesterday, when I tried different Distros on an old laptop (Kubuntu and Manjaro).I got the survey when running "SteamOS Holo" in a VM
but not in May.
2 Likes
slaapliedje 2 Jun 2022
I did my part this month- I actually got my first Steam Survey prompt since going to Linux this Monday.ha, I got my Steam Survey yesterday... on my macbook... kind of silly to see all the things are unsupported on the M1. And that it is stuck on OpenGL 4.1
Not that I moved much of a needle, since I was using newer distro (Garuda Linux). Though I'm tempted to try Nobara (AUR is just so convenient tho).
1 Likes
slaapliedje 2 Jun 2022
I was wondering if we could look up how many people went and ruined their Deck by installing Windows on it...
0 Likes
Mohandevir 2 Jun 2022
I was wondering if we could look up how many people went and ruined their Deck by installing Windows on it...
From what I read. Few are going 100% Windows. The vast majority of those that want to install Windows are dualbooters that play games like Destiny 2 or play Xbox Gamepass games locally.
Thing is, I also see comments of Windows users that complains about battery life, fan noise and heat that are much worse vs SteamOS... They are probably affecting the Steam Deck's lifespan, by using an "unsupported" OS. Personnally, the heat issue would worry me a lot.
Seriously, all the features that are exclusive to SteamOS and the UI's "eye candy" are convincing a lot of people that it's the best OS for the device. Valve is nailing it, this time.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 2 Jun 2022 at 3:17 pm UTC
9 Likes
CyborgZeta 2 Jun 2022
I'm still in Q2 2022. Guess it'll be sometime in June for me.
1 Likes
slaapliedje 2 Jun 2022
Yup. I maintain still that the Steam Machines would have been fine if they'd done the Proton stuff earlier. Well, and they would have had to pick a piece of hardware to make it a standard.I was wondering if we could look up how many people went and ruined their Deck by installing Windows on it...
From what I read. Few are going 100% Windows. The vast majority of those that want to install Windows are dualbooters that play games like Destiny 2 or play Xbox Gamepass games locally.
Thing is, I also see comments of Windows users that complains about battery life, fan noise and heat that are much worse vs SteamOS... They are probably affecting the Steam Deck's lifespan, by using an "unsupported" OS. Personnally, the heat issue would worry me a lot.
Seriously, all the features that are exclusive to SteamOS and the UI's "eye candy" are convincing a lot of people that it's the best OS for the device. Valve is nailing it, this time.
The entire Steam Controller, interface for configuring that for non-gamepad games, etc. All really also needed to be in place for the Deck/steam machine to be successful. I'm guessing they've been working toward this goal for a very long time.
2 Likes
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