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No news is good news, as the saying goes, or something like that. Valve updated the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for July 2024 and for Linux / Steam Deck the changes were pretty minimal. You can see the Linux share over time on our Steam Tracker.

For July 2024 the operating system stats are:

  • Windows 96.55% -0.06%
  • Linux: 2.08% (no change)
  • macOS 1.37% +0.06%

Here's the main Linux distribution stats:

  • SteamOS Holo 64 bit (Steam Deck) 40.97% -0.20%
  • Arch Linux 64 bit 7.99% -0.09%
  • Freedesktop SDK 23.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 6.35% -0.36%
  • Linux Mint 21.3 64 bit 5.20% +0.10%
  • Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS 64 bit 4.04% -0.22%
  • Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 64 bit 3.41% +0.38%
  • Ubuntu Core 22 64 bit 2.99% +0.02%
  • "Manjaro Linux" 64 bit 2.93% -0.16%
  • Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS 64 bit 2.73% +0.08%
  • Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) 64 bit 2.44% +2.44%
  • Other 20.96% -1.98%

See more on the Steam Survey.

Meanwhile according to Statcounter, Linux overall hit another all-time high.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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11 comments
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Staying steady above 2% is a very good sign. Lets hope we can gain a bit more marketshare and end the year above 2.5%. Maybe even hit 3% if we're lucky.
Steam Deck launched on February 25, 2022, thinking about the timeline and massive success, It will be interesting to see what update interval Steam Deck goes with.

I think it's been great because developers have been more resource efficient targeting the Steam Deck which makes their games more available to more customers.

Games like Terraria, MineCraft, and StarDew Valley all have massive followings because they could run on potatos.

I am curious if they will go with a 3 year cycle or 4 year cycle and we will see something ~Feb 2025 or ~Feb 2026.

I wonder if they will use numerical versioning or follow Xbox -- will we see Steam Deck 2 and then after that Steam Deck 2 Episode 1 :P
elmapul Aug 2
Quoting: ElectricPrismI am curious if they will go with a 3 year cycle or 4 year cycle and we will see something ~Feb 2025 or ~Feb 2026.
i hope not, they havent even launched in Brasil, or in many countries now that we are speaking of that.

i hope they can endure 5 years, despite the competition launching things more powerfull, if they can keep the device relevant for 5 years runing the big lauch titles, then steam deck 2 will sell like hot cakes.

they still have many strategies they can try, ranging from things like FSR that they already did, to hall stick sensors...

Quoting: ElectricPrismI wonder if they will use numerical versioning or follow Xbox -- will we see Steam Deck 2 and then after that Steam Deck 2 Episode 1 :P
no, the next steam deck will be steam deck 3, making people confuse about the fate of the missing steamdeck 2 and curious about the fact that valve finally learned to count to 3... except they didnt because they skiped the 2.
QuoteLinux / Steam Deck user share on Steam stays flat for July 2024
What I'm curious about is to see when the Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors start showing up in the survey.
Lamdarer Aug 4
Perfection


Last edited by Lamdarer on 4 August 2024 at 8:30 pm UTC
Quoting: LamdarerPerfection
I mean, I'm very positive and all, but actually that graph makes it kind of clear: We're talking about 1% in 2 1/2 years. At that rate, in 25 years we'll be at 12%. World domination in under 250 years!
That said, significantly faster than the Linux desktop share grew from ~2000 to 2022, so still seems like pretty good times!
Eike Aug 5
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Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: LamdarerPerfection
I mean, I'm very positive and all, but actually that graph makes it kind of clear: We're talking about 1% in 2 1/2 years. At that rate, in 25 years we'll be at 12%. World domination in under 250 years!
That said, significantly faster than the Linux desktop share grew from ~2000 to 2022, so still seems like pretty good times!

The other way to see it(*) is doubling in 2.5 years. Calculate that one... ;)

(*) I am joking.
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: LamdarerPerfection
I mean, I'm very positive and all, but actually that graph makes it kind of clear: We're talking about 1% in 2 1/2 years. At that rate, in 25 years we'll be at 12%. World domination in under 250 years!
That said, significantly faster than the Linux desktop share grew from ~2000 to 2022, so still seems like pretty good times!

The other way to see it(*) is doubling in 2.5 years. Calculate that one... ;)

(*) I am joking.
15 years to 128%!
Highball Aug 6
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: LamdarerPerfection
I mean, I'm very positive and all, but actually that graph makes it kind of clear: We're talking about 1% in 2 1/2 years. At that rate, in 25 years we'll be at 12%. World domination in under 250 years!
That said, significantly faster than the Linux desktop share grew from ~2000 to 2022, so still seems like pretty good times!


I think the network effect kicks in soon. Feels like it's happening now. It's shocking to see average users getting help with their game in non-Linux specific forums. That would just never, ever happen prior to the SteamDeck. In the past 25 years, MSFT has always been able to scuttle the ground Linux has made with gaming or hardware compatibility, if not that, MSFT has always used the power of their purse to crush any Linux adoption. So far there has been no response from MSFT, other than forcing it's OEM's to produce some of the worst handheld experiences. And their OEM's can't use SteamOS or they risk losing their volume licensing deals which would be suicide in volume pc sales. MSFT really has one chance to bring a handheld XBox OS that plays PC games for their OEMs. If they can't do that in the next 2-3 years and the SteamDeck2 releases, any XboxOS handheld will be DOA. MSFT needs a DX13 that is so compelling it forces every game studio to stop what they are doing and retool. Right now, as it is, in 2-3 years, game studios will be releasing games that were designed with Proton as a first class citizen. All these game studios will have support for Proton support built-in to their tools and libraries. MSFT is running out of time to scuttle gaming on Linux. I know I'm always optimistic about everything in life especially Linux. But seriously I am still gobsmacked over AAA titles SteamDeck verified day 1. Things are just different. It's exciting to see how it all fleshes out.
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