Linux becomes the second most used system by Steam users
It seems that Thanks to Steam Deck, Linux has become the second most used operating system by Steam users, leaving MacOS behind with a difference of 0.25% (Linux with 1.82% and MacOS with 1.57%.
And is that Since July, Linux has been placed above MacOS and in this month of August the situation has not changed, since based on the statistics that Valve shares about the use of Steam, both systems had a small drop, with MacOS being the most affected, as it lost 0.27% compared to the previous month, while Linux lost 0.14%.
A Although the difference is very small, it should be noted that the Steam Deck plays an important role In increasing the popularity of this system, as this is basically a gaming laptop made by Valve, running on a modified version of Arch Linux.
With this, Linux has surpassed macOS to become the second most used operating system on Steam thanks to the growth in market share attributable to Steam Deck, which its system is based on Linux. This is what emerges from the latest Steam hardware and software survey from August, However, one constant remains: Linux (1.82%) It is still far behind Windows, which represents 96,61%.
These are the most popular distributions for games on Steam (percentage of use and the change they had compared to last month):
- SteamOS Holo 64-bit 44.18% +2.11%
- «Arch Linux» 64 bits 7.68% -0.26%
- Freedesktop.org SDK 22.08 (Flatpak) 64-bit 6.03% +0.04%
- Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS 64-bit 4.10% -3.28%
- Manjaro Linux 64 bit 3.99% -0.30%
- Linux Mint 21.2 64-bit 3.41% +3.41%
- Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS 64-bit 2.93% -0.04%
- Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS 64-bit 2.91% +2.91%
- Others 24.78% -0.74%
EastThis is a trend that many attribute to the gaming industry.In which They give great preference to the development of their titles for Windows (as far as computers are concerned). And it is not to attack, much less to say that it is something "bad", because at the end of the day we will always look for the product to be able to generate the greatest amount of profits possible and with Windows being the most used system and having almost the slice biggest of the pie, it is totally understandable that Windows maintains this position.
It's basically like making a comparison What do they prefer? Smartphone application developers, develop or allocate your resources to your application for Android or iOS or prefer to opt for FirefoxOS or Windows Phone (of course it is a mere example, since these last two systems are already more than dead and precisely for the same issue of lack of an application system).
And this issue of Linux still has a lot of ground ahead before game developers think about whether to allocate resources and time for their titles to come natively to Linux, can be attributed to one of the preconceived ideas about Linux is that it is an operating system for “experts” or people with “extensive computer knowledge,” while Windows is friendlier for novices.
However, these types of situations and ideas surrounding Linux could be affected by the availability of hardware platforms such as Valve's Steam Deck, which is a gaming console, similar to the Nintendo Switch, which is optimized for gaming. The idea with the latter is to make users understand that it is possible to benefit from a gaming experience in Linux similar to that of Windows.
The fact that Linux has become the second system operating most used on Steam, it is proof that the sale linked through Steam Deck It is an advantage for Linux. This is a factor that Linux has not benefited from in the desktop sector compared to Windows. However, the situation is changing and it is also expected that projects such as Wine or CrossOver, at the pace they are taking, can bring the gaming experience to an acceptable level, since Proton, Steam's compatibility layer, benefits from the improvements of these two.
Finally if you are interested in knowing more about it, you can check the statistics that Valve shares about the use of Steam in the following link