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Steam Hardware Survey For April 2014, Linux Rises From The Ashes

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Here is the latest instalment of Steam's Hardware Survey, as usual we do our monthly thing and compare it and talk about it and make sure you know not to use it as a hard figure.

Linux results for April 2014
Ubuntu 13.10 64 bit 0.25% -0.11%
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64 bit 0.22% +0.22%
Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS 64 bit 0.12% -0.03%
Linux Mint 16 Petra 64 bit 0.09% -0.01%
Linux 3.10 64 bit 0.09% 0.00%
Ubuntu 13.10 0.05% -0.02%

Total: Linux 1.26% +0.06%
Last Month: 1.20%

My thoughts on it
We already know Steam's stats system is a bit odd, sometimes things just don't add up. It's clear Steam is hiding plenty of distro's since the ones they show don't add up to the full figure they give, not even close to it.

It's interesting to see it actually have a positive increase, although it's so low it can be a stat error of course, but it's pleasing to see it even that low.

It will be very interesting to see SteamOS as a distribution in the list and to see how popular it is against the other distros, but we have many months before that happens if they decide to show it there at all.

Things to note
The Other category has gone and that contained a few of the lesser represented Linux distro's like Fedora, Gentoo and Arch for example. It has been reported by a few that Arch may show up in Linux 64bit. Ideally we need Steam to let us see more of them, especially now the stats page has a Linux only section they could do with listing many more distributions in it so that we can get a clearer picture.

Distro-hoppers will mess up the statistics as well, Linux users are far more likely to switch between different distributions than say a Windows user due to how many we have.

Just be aware these results will probably not be that accurate as we don't know how they do their percentage results, they could be rounding up, rounding down or truncating the percentages. So a 0.5% could actually be nearly 0.6% as it could be 0.59% but they could do no rounding and simply truncate it.

Also it won't be every Steam user (it's a survey not a full statistic), so it can be as simple as not actually showing the survey to many Linux people.
Let's face it we know they don't survey 100% of their user base, only a small fraction of it, so bear that in mind as well.

Lastly Linux users typically shy away from any form of DRM, so you can bet there is a large bunch of Linux users who just simply refuse to use Steam.

Final Note: Look at it this way, Steam has around 75 million active users, 1.26% of 75 million is about 945,000 people, nearly a million. What developer wouldn't want to hook into a market that big? We are still under-represented in my eyes. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial, Steam
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About the author -
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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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21 comments
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wolfyrion May 2, 2014
All my friends are willing to change to Linux but the only reason that keeping them on Windows is that some of their favourite game tittles are working only on windows and they dont want to mess up with Wine.

If at least 5 Major Games go to Linux you will see up to 50% Rise of Linux

- Blizzard Games (Diablo , WoW, etc)
- Battlefield
- World of Tanks
- Dark Souls 2
- Guild Wars 2
Liam Dawe May 2, 2014
It's always the same story sadly, "I need x game to work" as more developers slowly do come over we will rise.

I really do hope Steam Machines don't crash and burn as that would be quite the disaster for us all.
JoZ3 May 2, 2014
Quoting: wolfyrionAll my friends are willing to change to Linux but the only reason that keeping them on Windows is that some of their favourite game tittles are working only on windows and they dont want to mess up with Wine.

If at least 5 Major Games go to Linux you will see up to 50% Rise of Linux

- Blizzard Games (Diablo , WoW, etc)
- Battlefield
- World of Tanks
- Dark Souls 2
- Guild Wars 2

GW2 is the only reason that I keep windows
killx_den May 2, 2014
I am playing GW2 via wine on Linux and have like 1700 hours played yet :>
Runs good for me between 25fps - 60fps on high settings. I am using this ppa:

https://launchpad.net/~foresto/+archive/winepatched/

Lately I really don't care about Windows games anymore. If I really want to play something I will play it via wine (If I really have to) or on my PS3. Otherwise it is the devs bad luck, because they won't see my money.

I realize that this won't apply to other people and I also know we need some more AAA games, but no matter how many games we get, there will always be someone missing his favorite game on Linux. So just be happy about every new game that comes to Linux, because the more games there are the more people will join thew community ;)
Rob on Linux May 2, 2014
I haven't seen a survey since December, on Windows or Linux (I dual boot).
Widerwillig May 2, 2014
I was even surveyed yesterday on my Linux system. ^_^ It was the second time after the first survey, right after the very first start of steam.
Abhishek chatterjee May 2, 2014
Quoting: wolfyrionAll my friends are willing to change to Linux but the only reason that keeping them on Windows is that some of their favourite game tittles are working only on windows and they dont want to mess up with Wine.

If at least 5 Major Games go to Linux you will see up to 50% Rise of Linux

- Blizzard Games (Diablo , WoW, etc)
- Battlefield
- World of Tanks
- Dark Souls 2
- Guild Wars 2


i want all future action or adventure games to linux version then i move windows to linux.

for example..
next battlefield 5 game, GTA V, watchdogs, max payne 4, call of duty (2014), far cry 4.

and i dont think linux support this type of games.. :P
Caldazar May 2, 2014
Judging from my personal environment, those stats right now are as unimportant as it gets.
What's important is how the perception of Linux among gamers, even the casual ones, changed.

People who called me "elitist" togue-in-cheek a year ago now dualboot with Ubuntu as secondary OS.
"Hey Elitist, trouble with your LAN connection? Aww!"
got replaced by
"That isn't anywhere near as hard as everyone says! Would you recommend Ubuntu or rather another Distro?"

From elitist to OS-expert in one year. People asking about Distros!

Of course those lads don't play on Linux yet. They have Windows installed, which to this point is far, far superior for gaming.
But I havent heard a snarky comment about me gaming on Linux for a long time.
Instead Linux is widely considered the next best thing after Windows, expected to take the crown in the long run (a.k.a. when Windows 7 becomes obsolete).
It is taken seriously.

Really, don't mind those stats just yet. If you know where to watch ,just lean back and enjoy how the tide slowly turns.
FutureSuture May 2, 2014
I am glad that there's an increase, but it's a tiny one. When will we see a considerable jump? An increase of 1.00%, 0.50%, or even 0.25%?
Zelox May 2, 2014
Quoting: wolfyrionAll my friends are willing to change to Linux but the only reason that keeping them on Windows is that some of their favourite game tittles are working only on windows and they dont want to mess up with Wine.

If at least 5 Major Games go to Linux you will see up to 50% Rise of Linux

- Blizzard Games (Diablo , WoW, etc)
- Battlefield
- World of Tanks
- Dark Souls 2
- Guild Wars 2


Totally agree, woudn't minde seeing League of legends with a linux client, but I got to say, lol works really good on wine for me atleast.
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