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Linux share on Steam back to nearly 2% thanks to Steam Deck

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After a couple of months of the Linux user share on Steam dropping, the November 2023 Steam Hardware & Software Survey shows it shooting back up again. With Steam Deck continuing to push Linux gaming. See the data over time on the GOL Steam Tracker.

As mentioned in the last article for October 2023's numbers, the issue was something we've seen quite a few times now. A sudden surge of Simplified Chinese as a language on Steam, which pretty much always brings down the Linux and macOS share. Things look back to normal again now though.

The current numbers:

  • Windows 96.56%
  • Linux 1.91%
  • macOS 1.53%

When filtering just to the Linux numbers we can see that SteamOS Holo (Steam Deck) continues to be what's pushing the numbers up overall:

  • SteamOS Holo 64 bit 42.99% +0.68%
  • Arch Linux 64 bit 7.81% +0.27%
  • Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS 64 bit 6.67% -0.06%
  • Freedesktop.org SDK 23.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 5.33% -0.40%
  • Linux Mint 21.2 64 bit 4.25% +0.32%
  • Manjaro Linux 64 bit 3.79% -0.16%
  • Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS 64 bit 2.68% +2.68%
  • Other 26.48% -3.33%

See the full survey on Steam.

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. Find me on Mastodon.
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30 comments
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whizse Dec 2, 2023
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Quoting: BlackBloodRumYou know what that means? 2024 will be the year of the Linux Desktop!
The heck is a "desktop"?

Sent from my iPhone
Dorrit Dec 2, 2023
The heck is a "Deck"?
Sent from my desktop.
BlackBloodRum Dec 2, 2023
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Quoting: whizse
Quoting: BlackBloodRumYou know what that means? 2024 will be the year of the Linux Desktop!
The heck is a "desktop"?

Sent from my iPhone
You young'uns and your new fancy technology, you don't know what you're missing out on *shakes walking stick*.

Back in my day we didn't have those fancy flashy portable devices you hold in your hand and take everywhere with you. We had these things that sat on a desk that had at least two monitors and a tower unit to power those monitors.

When we were teens, we would spend all day hacking away at code on our desktop computers! No silly games, no fancy phones just pure childhood joy of computer coding, as all children should have!

Honestly, the youth of today. You just don't get it.

/me walks off grumbling about the youth of today while using walking stick.


Last edited by BlackBloodRum on 2 December 2023 at 10:48 pm UTC
chickenb00 Dec 2, 2023
I have to wonder what is going to happen when Microsoft gets off their asses and releases a controller-friendly version of Windows, basically something like SteamOS or even just BigPictureMode with quick access to all of the little toggles you normally need via a quick button combo. Suddenly ROG Ally will be much more competitive when you no longer have to dip back to the desktop and play with Control Panel to get things working.
DerpFox Dec 2, 2023
Quoting: chickenb00I have to wonder what is going to happen when Microsoft gets off their asses and releases a controller-friendly version of Windows, basically something like SteamOS or even just BigPictureMode with quick access to all of the little toggles you normally need via a quick button combo. Suddenly ROG Ally will be much more competitive when you no longer have to dip back to the desktop and play with Control Panel to get things working.

They did in 2001, that's called an xbox :D

Seriously, last gen xbox are controller friendly, game friendly, walled garden friendly windows on a special hardware. And, microsoft has no intention of giving it to any potential competition. They are making enough money out of it and releasing such an OS would mean they will have to work with other manufacturers to make their exclusive OS run on other hardware while retaining the ability to play xbox exclusive games (because let's face the reality that the selling point of xbox os); even as a closed partnership they wouldn't do that.
tarmo888 Dec 3, 2023
Quoting: chickenb00I have to wonder what is going to happen when Microsoft gets off their asses and releases a controller-friendly version of Windows, basically something like SteamOS or even just BigPictureMode with quick access to all of the little toggles you normally need via a quick button combo. Suddenly ROG Ally will be much more competitive when you no longer have to dip back to the desktop and play with Control Panel to get things working.

Unlikely to happen, even the Xbox app on PC isn't gamepad-friendly (even Microsoft Store is better), they probably don't care about 1% of potential customers, especially of those who aren't locked to their store. I don't see them making handheld that is locked to Microsoft Store (or Xbox app) either, if anything, they would do something like Playstation Portal (depends on how successful that idea is), but only for Xbox Cloud.
Linux_Rocks Dec 3, 2023
Quoting: BlackBloodRum
Quoting: whizse
Quoting: BlackBloodRumYou know what that means? 2024 will be the year of the Linux Desktop!
The heck is a "desktop"?

Sent from my iPhone
You young'uns and your new fancy technology, you don't know what you're missing out on *shakes walking stick*.

Back in my day we didn't have those fancy flashy portable devices you hold in your hand and take everywhere with you. We had these things that sat on a desk that had at least two monitors and a tower unit to power those monitors.

When we were teens, we would spend all day hacking away at code on our desktop computers! No silly games, no fancy phones just pure childhood joy of computer coding, as all children should have!

Honestly, the youth of today. You just don't get it.

/me walks off grumbling about the youth of today while using walking stick.
Purple Library Guy Dec 3, 2023
Quoting: Linux_Rocks
Quoting: BlackBloodRum
Quoting: whizse
Quoting: BlackBloodRumYou know what that means? 2024 will be the year of the Linux Desktop!
The heck is a "desktop"?

Sent from my iPhone
You young'uns and your new fancy technology, you don't know what you're missing out on *shakes walking stick*.

Back in my day we didn't have those fancy flashy portable devices you hold in your hand and take everywhere with you. We had these things that sat on a desk that had at least two monitors and a tower unit to power those monitors.

When we were teens, we would spend all day hacking away at code on our desktop computers! No silly games, no fancy phones just pure childhood joy of computer coding, as all children should have!

Honestly, the youth of today. You just don't get it.

/me walks off grumbling about the youth of today while using walking stick.
Well, that's understandable. How do you know you can trust it with your data? Theft, internet disruptions, bankruptcy, changes in corporate policy--well worth yelling at, the Cloud.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 3 December 2023 at 3:53 am UTC
BlackBloodRum Dec 3, 2023
View PC info
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Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Linux_Rocks
Quoting: BlackBloodRum
Quoting: whizse
Quoting: BlackBloodRumYou know what that means? 2024 will be the year of the Linux Desktop!
The heck is a "desktop"?

Sent from my iPhone
You young'uns and your new fancy technology, you don't know what you're missing out on *shakes walking stick*.

Back in my day we didn't have those fancy flashy portable devices you hold in your hand and take everywhere with you. We had these things that sat on a desk that had at least two monitors and a tower unit to power those monitors.

When we were teens, we would spend all day hacking away at code on our desktop computers! No silly games, no fancy phones just pure childhood joy of computer coding, as all children should have!

Honestly, the youth of today. You just don't get it.

/me walks off grumbling about the youth of today while using walking stick.
Well, that's understandable. How do you know you can trust it with your data? Theft, internet disruptions, bankruptcy, changes in corporate policy--well worth yelling at, the Cloud.
The cloud is trust worthy, join the system. Be a part of our new world order, place all your data within our loving data centers. We promise not to peak at your data* and we take your privacy very seriously. Remember, Cloud is your friend, the cloud is your future. Clouds, be a cloud user today.

* Your data is automatically scanned for the safety of all users by an AI, and we may remove files where necessary.
emphy Dec 3, 2023
Quoting: chickenb00I have to wonder what is going to happen when Microsoft gets off their asses and releases a controller-friendly version of Windows, basically something like SteamOS or even just BigPictureMode with quick access to all of the little toggles you normally need via a quick button combo. Suddenly ROG Ally will be much more competitive when you no longer have to dip back to the desktop and play with Control Panel to get things working.

My guess is that there'll be a well-adapted steamos/chimeraos/whatever-community-distro for deck-alikes before that happens.
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