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When it comes to PC gaming in general, Windows has always been the main OS for users, for its focused development on said OS, and for its compatibility with the vast majority of gaming software available.

While Windows has historically maintained most of the gaming market for PC, other operating systems have also hold a share in it, even if low, like Linux and macOS, which next to Windows, have also their own gaming market. For decades, Windows held the first place, with a percentage of around 95+%, followed closely by macOS and then Linux following with percentages barely breaking above the 1%.

However, due to the popularity of the recently released Steam Deck just a year ago, alongside Valve's own SteamOS, the percentage share for Linux gamers has seen a historical rise in usage, taking the 2nd place with 1.96%, which was held previously by macOS with 1.84%. That 1.96% isn't specific to a particular distribution of Linux, since Linux also ranges from a wide variety of them, with the following braekdown based on Linux distributions for gaming:

SteamOS: 42.07% Arch Linux: 7.94% Ubuntu 22.04.2: 7.38% Freedesktop.org SDK 22.08: 5.99% “Manjaro Linux”: 4.29% Linux Mint 21.1: 3.84% Pop!_OS 22.04: 2.97% Other Linux operating systems: 25.52%

Without a doubt, a huge number of the chart is taken up by SteamOS users, and while SteamOS is the operating system that comes bundled with the Steam Deck, it can also be installed in PCs, though it's unknown just how much of that 42% is taken up by actual Deck users, and how many by PCs with SteamOS users, but it might be safe to say that the majority of that portion from the chart could very well be Steam Deck players.

Source #1
Source #2

 

[Ryab]

View attachment 386458
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When it comes to PC gaming in general, Windows has always been the main OS for users, for its focused development on said OS, and for its compatibility with the vast majority of gaming software available.

While Windows has historically maintained most of the gaming market for PC, other operating systems have also hold a share in it, even if low, like Linux and macOS, which next to Windows, have also their own gaming market. For decades, Windows held the first place, with a percentage of around 95+%, followed closely by macOS and then Linux following with percentages barely breaking above the 1%.

However, due to the popularity of the recently released Steam Deck just a year ago, alongside Valve's own SteamOS, the percentage share for Linux gamers has seen a historical rise in usage, taking the 2nd place with 1.96%, which was held previously by macOS with 1.84%. That 1.96% isn't specific to a particular distribution of Linux, since Linux also ranges from a wide variety of them, with the following braekdown based on Linux distributions for gaming:

View attachment 386459

SteamOS: 42.07% Arch Linux: 7.94% Ubuntu 22.04.2: 7.38% Freedesktop.org SDK 22.08: 5.99% “Manjaro Linux”: 4.29% Linux Mint 21.1: 3.84% Pop!_OS 22.04: 2.97% Other Linux operating systems: 25.52%

Without a doubt, a huge number of the chart is taken up by SteamOS users, and while SteamOS is the operating system that comes bundled with the Steam Deck, it can also be installed in PCs, though it's unknown just how much of that 42% is taken up by actual Deck users, and how many by PCs with SteamOS users, but it might be safe to say that the majority of that portion from the chart could very well be Steam Deck players.

Source #1
Source #2

Thank you Valve. Hopefully certain devs will make their DRM and Anti-cheats work right now. That is the thing that is holding back most games from being compatible.

 

[Noctosphere]

Nothing unusual here

 

[Xzi]

First try at a portable and they blew everything that came before out of the water. The "Deck 2" is sure to be something extra special whenever it's released.

 

[TheStonedModder]

How is this an accomplishment? Of course a device that is $500+ less than cheapest Mac is going to cost you, is going to inflate numbers eventually lmao

 

[Marc_LFD]

Good news because with Windows going "mobile," Linux is the best alternative.

 

[tech3475]

I wonder what will happen if these things ever hit large high street retailers?

As a tech enthusiast it would be interesting to see GNU/Linux potentially see a massive boost, but as a retail employee I’d probably be ****ing bricks, especially with the muppets I have to deal with called customers.

Still, it will also be interesting to see what happens after then W10 support shut off, as this could lead to a massive flood of perfectly usable hardware hitting the secondhand/recycling market.

 

[Kordru]

it confuses me why macOS was even considered a gaming OS

 

[EvilJagaGenius]

Thank you Valve. Hopefully certain devs will make their DRM and Anti-cheats work right now. That is the thing that is holding back most games from being compatible.

Seconded, Valve is probably the strongest force in making Linux a viable platform. It's not my daily driver... yet. I'd rather fall back on Linux Mint than upgrade to Win11.

Mint's my favorite distro, if anyone wants recommendations.

 

[Xzi]

How is this an accomplishment? Of course a device that is $500+ less than cheapest Mac is going to cost you, is going to inflate numbers eventually lmao

Gee it's almost like Mac has been around since the 1980s and the first Steam Deck was delivered less than two years ago.

 

[Kordru]

How is this an accomplishment? Of course a device that is $500+ less than cheapest Mac is going to cost you, is going to inflate numbers eventually lmao

along with considering you can install steamOS on basically anything capable of linux

 

[Ryab]

Seconded, Valve is probably the strongest force in making Linux a viable platform. It's not my daily driver... yet. I'd rather fall back on Linux Mint than upgrade to Win11.

Mint's my favorite distro, if anyone wants recommendations.

Mint is definitely not a bad place to start either. I personally prefer Arch just due to the multitude of packages in the AUR, but it is all up to preference.

Post automatically merged: Aug 3, 2023

along with considering you can install steamOS on basically anything capable of linux

So literally anything you can install a custom x86-based OS on lol.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

1% of users 99% of bug reporters

 

[Xzi]

1% of users 99% of bug reporters

Which is a good thing, that's how shit gets fixed quickly.

 

[TheStonedModder]

Gee it's almost like Mac has been around since the 1980s and the first Steam Deck was delivered less than two years ago.

And MacOS is completely locked down unless you buy into the ecosystem or do some crazy specific shit to buikd a hackintosh

what can we do for Linux ? Create a bootable USB for free

the only accomplishment here is that steam is improving Linux drivers

 

[Xzi]

what can we do for Linux ? Create a bootable USB for free

You could do that long before Steam Deck came to be though, and Linux still trailed MacOS during that whole period of time.

the only accomplishment here is that steam is improving Linux drivers

If you say so. I guess that speaks to how high the bar is set for Valve, and how low it's set for everybody else.

 

[Ryab]

And MacOS is completely locked down unless you buy into the ecosystem or do some crazy specific shit to buikd a hackintosh

what can we do for Linux ? Create a bootable USB for free

the only accomplishment here is that steam is improving Linux drivers

They have done so so much these past years. I mean 10 years ago the compatibility for games on Linux was around 10%. Nowadays that is around 80%.

 

[Purple_Shyguy]

Which is a good thing, that's how shit gets fixed quickly.

The point is that there's always a huge workload of fixes for devs for a niche os nobody uses.

Just use Windows, nerds.

 

[Xzi]

The point is that there's always a huge workload of fixes for devs for a niche os nobody uses.

Just use Windows, nerds.

Only reason gamers didn't use it before is because the compatibility wasn't there yet. I'll be switching to SteamOS on my desktop once Win10 reaches EOL though.

There's no shortage of bugs in Windows, but most users just ignore them or don't recognize them as bugs when they see them.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

come on!!!

• Windows users take up 96.21%
• Linux now takes up 1.96%
• macOS is third with 1.84%

This info is on the source. The Linux 1% is bigger than the macOS 1%, how this is newsworthy?

There are methodological problems in the research as well, is it is not counting the Chinese emulation station based handhelds that are selling astronomical numbers, specially outside the fat land and the white land. Those devices are almost always offline and there is no way on earth to know how many are out there with precision.

*Emulation stations and its forks are requite Linux OSs