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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

 

[linuxares]

Funny enough, the OSX and MacOS kernel is called XNU (X is Not Unix).

 

[Foxi4]

Again you attack me based on a fallacy....

It doesn't say macOS is UNIX, it says macOS is part of the UNIX family. My BMW 230i is equal to your M3 because they're both a part of the 3 series line or my I3 iis equal to your I9 because they're both a part of the same CPU family. You realise how idiotic that sounds, right?

Honestly I'm done arguing with you now, your entire argument is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of a topic that you openly admit to not caring about.

You can accept it or not, IDGAF either way TBH, macOS is not UNIX, UNIX as a platform is dead and has been for a very long time.

You really are stubborn, aren’t you? Yeah, an i3 and an i9 are both x86_64 processors made by Intel. A 230i and an M3 are both BMW cars. The fact that they’re different does not change their classification. No matter. MacOS is UNIX, undeniably so. Maybe brush up your knowledge on the subject yourself, since you’re unwilling to accept how the UNIX classification works here and now. This isn’t exactly the thread for it, and the conversation bores me.

Funny enough, the OSX and MacOS kernel is called XNU (X is Not Unix).

It is pretty funny how Apple pursued the UNIX certification after inheriting the kernel from NeXT. I think I brought that up earlier myself.

 

[linuxares]

https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/

There, @Foxi4 is right. MacOS is Unix 03 certified. Ventura (Latest OS version) is certified.

 

[Foxi4]

https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/

There, @Foxi4 is right. MacOS is Unix 03 certified. Ventura (Latest OS version) is certified.

It really doesn’t matter - I posted the same link, he doesn’t care about the certification (even though contemporarily it is the certification that makes a given OS UNIX). It’s pretty amusing, but altogether off topic.

 

[Xzi]

I thought that steam OS was 10 times bigger than it actually is, because of amount of noise it had since before launch.

Of course it had hype, and it lived up to it. It plays PS5 games at a locked 30/40 FPS, and it emulates Switch games at full speed.

(the fun part is that it was supposed to be a Nintendo Switch killer, that was a hyperbolic statement so it seems)

Specs-wise and features-wise, it absolutely is the Switch killer. There's no accounting for good taste, however, and some people will always be happy to settle for a lot less, especially if it's just a console they're buying to keep the kids quiet. 1.2 million sales is nothing to scoff at for what used to be a very niche type of device.

 

[Dungeonseeker]

You really are stubborn, aren’t you? Yeah, an i3 and an i9 are both x86_64 processors made by Intel. A 230i and an M3 are both BMW cars. The fact that they’re different does not change their classification. No matter. MacOS is UNIX, undeniably so. Maybe brush up your knowledge on the subject yourself, since you’re unwilling to accept how the UNIX classification works here and now. This isn’t exactly the thread for it, and the conversation bores me

Wait, hang about a minute. I think we just spent an entire page unknowingly arguing over semantics. I'm like 99% sure that you're conflating UNIX and UNIX Compatible to mean the same thing where as I'm being literal and thinking of UNIX as the dead AT&T operating system.

Its literally just clicked in my head, you're not trying to say macOS is literally UNIX, just that it belongs to the UNIX family. right?

I mean I don't know how we ended up going for so long since I said as much at the beginning of the conversation and have said it multiple times since.

Yeah, apologies LOL, sometimes my slightly austistic brain gets so caught up in the details I miss the bigger picture.

 

[Foxi4]

Yeah, apologies LOL, sometimes my slightly austistic brain gets so caught up in the details I miss the bigger picture.

I’m saying both things. It’s not the historical UNIX, no. However, contemporarily, UNIX is whatever meets the standards of the UNIX classification, and macOS is within that family. In that sense, having the modern definition in mind, macOS is UNIX, by the virtue of being certified as such, just like a particular wine or cheese is what it is because it’s certified. The whole argument was kind of pointless, and yeah, you got a bit wound up over nothing. No offense taken, but perhaps reading more closely would’ve allowed us both to avoid an otherwise unnecessary confrontation.

 

[Dungeonseeker]

I’m saying both things. It’s not the historical UNIX, no. However, contemporarily, UNIX is whatever meets the standards of the UNIX standard, and macOS is within that family. In that sense, having the modern definition in mind, macOS is UNIX, by the virtue of being certified as such, just like a particular wine or cheese is what it is because it’s certified as such. The whole argument was kind of pointless, and yeah, you got a bit wound up over nothing. No offense taken, but perhaps reading more closely would’ve allowed us both to avoid an otherwise unnecessary confrontation.

Nah, its on me, as I said I get bogged down easily with details and miss seemingly obvious things until afterwards. I had walked away and was watching a YT vid when it hit me and honestly, I don't know why I thought you were saying macOS IS UNIX as a literal thing, its dumb and makes no sense. As I said, mild autism.

 

[Foxi4]

Nah, its on me, as I said I get bogged down easily with details and miss seemingly obvious things until afterwards. I had walked away and was watching a YT vid when it hit me and honestly, I don't know why I thought you were saying macOS IS UNIX as a literal thing, its dumb and makes no sense. As I said, mild autism.

I mean, it depends on what you treat as “literally UNIX”. By the modern definition it is, it’s just not the same UNIX from years’ past. Nowadays the term refers to a set of common features, as prescribed by The Open Project. To cut a long story short, it is UNIX, but it’s not *the* UNIX from the seventies. It’s an umbrella term, really. The big difference between UNIX and Linux (which is considered UNIX-like, after all, with some certified exceptions) is the development path. UNIX certification is strict, and so is the development within the UNIX family of systems. Linux development is evolutionary - the strongest implementations survive. That’s a blessing in the sense that anyone can contribute and progress can be very fast when needed, but it’s also a curse because it creates a compatibility nightmare due to various dependencies, not to mention a fair dose of analysis paralysis. Thankfully modern Linux handles that fairly admirably, but “there are many ways to skin a cat” is definitely part of the Linux design philosophy.

 

[tabzer]

The mention of AT&T copyright fiasco was a good enough reference to the dinosaur as opposed to the family. That was the first clue I saw.

If there's a time limit on the exclusivity, it's not actually exclusive. I do own a PS5

@Xzi: exclusivity is dead

Also @Xzi: *buys a PS5*

 

[mituzora]

This isn't all that surprising. Apple hardware was never geared for high-end gaming anyways. their GPUs were usually used for compute and rendering, stuff that Apple has always been stellar at. Linux (specifically Desktop Linux) has always been difficult to adopt. Proton has made it easy for me to daily drive, and yes, there are options out there that aim to make desktop Linux easy to use for newcomers, but you have to think differently.

I personally don't think that Linux is hard to use, you just have to have a different mindset. Once you understand how it works, it's about as trivial as Windows is to use. Loading kernel modules for stuff like EAX or Nvidia cards is essentially the same as loading drivers for specialized hardware, you just do it in a different manner than you do with Windows.

SteamOS makes all of this trivial. currently at least, it's geared for a specific set of hardware in mind, so module loading and all of that stuff really doesn't need to be done. Steam OS is to what Horizion OS and Orbis OS are to PS4 and Switch. Friendly, easy-to-use UNIX-Like OSes, so you don't have to worry about getting everything set up to game.

 

[Xzi]

@Xzi: exclusivity is dead

Also @Xzi: *buys a PS5*

Well I have nearly every Sony/Nintendo home console for collection purposes, and admittedly I didn't expect Sony to do a 180 on their strategy all of a sudden. Now I use my PS5 almost exclusively to play PS4 games with enhanced resolution and frame rate. Without a Bloodborne 2 announcement in the next couple years, I'll be tempted to sell it. Either way, gonna be the last generation I really keep up with consoles since they are just custom PCs on AMD hardware now. Which would be great if you could upgrade them part by part, but obviously you cannot.

 

[tabzer]

Well I have nearly every Sony/Nintendo home console for collection purposes, and admittedly I didn't expect Sony to do a 180 on their strategy all of a sudden. Now I use my PS5 almost exclusively to play PS4 games with enhanced resolution and frame rate. Without a Bloodborne 2 announcement in the next couple years, I'll be tempted to sell it. Either way, gonna be the last generation I really keep up with consoles since they are just custom PCs on AMD hardware now. Which would be great if you could upgrade them part by part, but obviously you cannot.

I got my PS5 before there were any exclusives on it, and I also thought that the improvement of playing PS4-only games was already worth it. I don't typically count my chickens before they hatch, so I see exclusivity is exclusivity, until it isn't, though I see that a turnaround cycle has been identified and is getting shorter and shorter.

 

[Xzi]

I got my PS5 before there were any exclusives on it, and I also thought that the improvement of playing PS4-only games was already worth it. I don't typically count my chickens before they hatch, so I see exclusivity is exclusivity, until it isn't, though I see that a turnaround cycle has been identified and is getting shorter and shorter.

Yeah I got mine mostly just so I could play the Demon's Souls remake, and considering that's been the longest-running exclusive so far I can't complain too much. Returnal was also a concept I was happy to support at launch.

 

[Kioku]

Yeah I got mine mostly just so I could play the Demon's Souls remake, and considering that's been the longest-running exclusive so far I can't complain too much. Returnal was also a concept I was happy to support at launch.

Demons Souls is a game I’ll likely emulate long before I consider buying a PS5… It really makes me sad that we may never see that and Bloodborne outside of Sony’s proverbial walls…

 

[Xzi]

Demons Souls is a game I’ll likely emulate long before I consider buying a PS5… It really makes me sad that we may never see that and Bloodborne outside of Sony’s proverbial walls…

They did a fantastic job on the remake, but it is relatively short compared to all the FromSoft games which came after, so emulation isn't a bad option. My PS5 was already playing second fiddle to my PC before I bit the bullet and upgraded to a (used) 3080, and my Switch obviously plays second fiddle to my Steam Deck now. So yeah, not a lot of reason to keep dipping my toes into other ecosystems, one discounted purchase on Steam gets me a game in 1440p/4K on my PC, and 720p/800p on Deck.

 

[Pickle_Rick]

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

Just use Windows, nerds.

If you actually look into this Linux users just tend to file more bug reports in general (to any kind of software). The bugs they report tend to effect all platforms the vast majority of the time. It's basically like having a free QA team. Multiple game devs have said this. Now if you excuse me I'm gonna go back to playing Halo on Fedora.
(I've used Linux as my only OS for a decade now.)

 

[_47iscool]

I think Android has already done that.

 

[AkikoKumagara]

I think Android has already done that.

Android can't natively run Steam games, and this is Steam Hardware Survey data.

 

[mituzora]

I think Android has already done that.

Android is NOT Desktop Linux; The Steam Deck is. The only thing "Linux" about Android is the kernel itself. All of the userspace tools that we know of as Desktop Linux do not exist on Android.