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Pretty much as expected, the Linux user share overall on Steam has dropped off a bit with the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for September 2024.

We almost always see the Linux user share drop, when Simplified Chinese as a language on Steam rises due to the popularity of Windows in China and just the massive amount of people there that cause the spikes to happen. Especially so with continued popularity of Black Myth: Wukong.

Here's the overall user share per operating system:

  • Windows 96.84% +0.06%
  • Linux 1.87% -0.05%
  • macOS 1.29% -0.01%

Looking at our dedicated Steam Tracker, it's well within the expected trend still overall:

Specifically on the Linux side here's the most-used distributions:

  • SteamOS Holo 64bit (Steam Deck) 39.20% -1.28%
  • Arch Linux 64bit 8.66% +0.44%
  • Freedesktop SDK 23.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64bit 6.03% -0.20%
  • Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS 64bit 4.03% +4.03%
  • Linux Mint 22 64bit 3.73% +0.75%
  • Ubuntu Core 22 64bit 3.30% +0.33%
  • "Manjaro Linux" 64bit 3.04% +0.09%
  • Linux Mint 21.3 64bit 2.72% -0.87%
  • Other 29.27% +6.69%

See more on the Steam Survey.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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29 comments
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@Cato-the-younger Request Denied.

Quoting: Cato-the-younger
Quoting: Linas
Quoting: mphuZ
Quoting: MayeulCPretty sure it's CCP for Chinese Communist Party in English
Of course not
I'm sorry, I really don't see what distinction are you trying to make here. I was simply referring to the ruling party in China. You know, the one and only.

Whats the distinction between "America" and "AmeriKKKa"? Its the same here.

Also there are about 25 parties in China

Actually there's a song about that, it's pretty good: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Rr8ljRgcJNM

Notice how I wasn't offended, I suggest others try it sometime.
Highball Oct 2
Quoting: mphuZ
Quoting: pbPersonally I find this fascinating that China is so Windows-centric.

Not for long. In the next 1-2 years, the Chinese will significantly completely abandon Windows (even pirated versions will be cut) and switch to HarmonyOS.

They write that its microkernel is 3 times more efficient than Linux. Other sources also say that it will be possible to launch Steam + native streaming of games on DX12.2

I wondered about that. I thought HarmonyOS was Huawei, and they only had 10% of the PC market in China. All of the other mfg would have to write driver's for the HarmonyOS kernel. Which means they would need to have two engineering efforts for HarmonyOS and Windows. I'm sure they wouldn't go cold turkey into HarmonyOS.
Quoting: MayeulC
Quoting: mphuZ
Quoting: LinasCCP
CPC

Pretty sure it's CCP for Chinese Communist Party in English (in French that would be PCC).

Quoting: CyborgZetaI'm surprised the Steam Flatpak is that high. I see more than a few people around the Web explicitly not recommend using the Steam Flatpak. Even I quit using it a while back during that AppArmor bug in Ubuntu that made certain Flatpaks, such as Steam, unusable for a time.

Well, it works very well for me, avoids cluttering my home with random game files, I don't require multilib on my system, and it sandboxes proprietary applications (games are not known for their good security practices). I've been using it for years, and only had the occasional issue (such as CEF sandboxing initially not working in Gmod).
I'm not criticizing your choice. Like I said, I used the Steam Flatpak myself before Canonical/Ubuntu temporarily broke some Flatpaks. I have noticed a slight performance hit when running games in the Steam Flatpak compared to native, but it's not enough to be a problem.

That said, I am curious as to why you use the Steam Flatpak when you're on Arch. I can understand using it on a stable distribution like Ubuntu or Debian, but isn't using it on Arch kind of redundant? Again, not criticizing your choice, just curious as to your reasoning.


Last edited by CyborgZeta on 2 October 2024 at 9:49 pm UTC
Quoting: Cato-the-youngerI am not offended. But you dont see me calling America by AmeriKKKa, because its respectful to call countries by their names.

Unless youre a racist of course, arent very smart and fall for propaganda easily 🙂

Please stop race-baiting race-baiter,

Notice how doing so creates the Streisand Effect:

https://wikiless.org/wiki/Streisand_effect?lang=en

Also notice the First Law of Physics. I'll let you look it up.

I am disappointed by the shame you bring to China and the billions of Chinese cosmopolitans part of "the brotherhood of man" and the "one human race" around the world through your poor behavior.
Does Arch include all the Arch spins/derivitives, other than manjaro?

Just surprised to see Arch with twice the user count of Ubuntu. Guess the Linux market has moved on.


Last edited by Craggles086 on 3 October 2024 at 8:59 am UTC
amatai Oct 3
  • Supporter
Quoting: Craggles086Does Arch include all the Arch spins/dervitives, other than manjaro?

Just surprised to see Arch with twice the user count of Ubuntu. Guess the Linux market has moved on.
It did not, but Ubuntu is counted on multiple entries due to multiple version, while Arch is only counted once due to being rolling release.
MayeulC Oct 3
Quoting: CyborgZeta
Quoting: MayeulC
Quoting: mphuZ
Quoting: LinasCCP
CPC

Pretty sure it's CCP for Chinese Communist Party in English (in French that would be PCC).

Quoting: CyborgZetaI'm surprised the Steam Flatpak is that high. I see more than a few people around the Web explicitly not recommend using the Steam Flatpak. Even I quit using it a while back during that AppArmor bug in Ubuntu that made certain Flatpaks, such as Steam, unusable for a time.

Well, it works very well for me, avoids cluttering my home with random game files, I don't require multilib on my system, and it sandboxes proprietary applications (games are not known for their good security practices). I've been using it for years, and only had the occasional issue (such as CEF sandboxing initially not working in Gmod).
I'm not criticizing your choice. Like I said, I used the Steam Flatpak myself before Canonical/Ubuntu temporarily broke some Flatpaks. I have noticed a slight performance hit when running games in the Steam Flatpak compared to native, but it's not enough to be a problem.

That said, I am curious as to why you use the Steam Flatpak when you're on Arch. I can understand using it on a stable distribution like Ubuntu or Debian, but isn't using it on Arch kind of redundant? Again, not criticizing your choice, just curious as to your reasoning.

Ah, but I explained my choice above, it's mostly about isolation:
  • reduce clutter: prevent games from writing to the home directory with no regards for XDG specs.
  • I do not have to pull 32-bit libraries on my system, everything is handled by the flatpak runtime.

  • in case there is a RCE (I know there are a lot in old games, such as UT1999 that just downloads DLLs off servers), sandboxing protects (a bit) my documents from malicious actors

Quoting: pb
Quoting: Luke_NukemWhen I visited a few factories there the major factor was support for certain applications, usually CAD and graphics.

I'm sorry, I didn't know most of the gaming in China happened at factories. ;-)
Of course specialised software support is a major pain point for Linux, but we're talking about steam survey here, at least I was. :-)

Ah because gaming happens in a vacuum. I'm making the point that the vast majority of china is stuck on windows and that flows on to gaming.
Arehandoro Oct 29
Quoting: Cato-the-youngerBut you dont see me calling America by AmeriKKKa, because its respectful to call countries by their names.

America is not a country. It isn't its real name, and mentioning the country's name like that is rather imperialistic.


Last edited by Arehandoro on 29 October 2024 at 6:08 pm UTC
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