Valve published the results of the March 2024 Steam Hardware & Software Survey, revealing the most popular CPUs, GPUs, and operating systems its customers use to play various games.
Also most gamers either buy a PC or build and install Windows in 15 mins, install Steam, and that’s requirements met for all gaming. The most frustrating part being the minute or two to setup a Windows profile, or optionally installing a software (once) to ensure latest drivers.
Everything after that short setup is, “I want to play that.” click…wait for download… Done. Play now.
If you use your computer for things outside of gaming and average use, I could see the argument appealing to 98% of gamers. But so far, it’s clear the stats are not “Gamers would like macOS/Linux” rather, “Some macOS/Linux users game.”
Per the survey site, SteamOS counts as Linux, and represents about 45% of linux users
(The second most used OS is Archlinux, representing 7.6% of the users)
It’s sad because even my friends that are knowledgeable in using Linux, or even a few friends that daily driver Linux, aren’t committed to gaming on Linux and keep a Windows box around for gaming…
I made the switch to fully Linux when I built my new PC, recently, and I haven’t had any more issues than I had encountered on Windows in years past. Maybe a little more configuration, but I very rarely stuck to default configuration with Windows, either.
Linux gaming has come so far in the last several years that it barely even feels different from Windows
Windows dominance isn’t surprising but I was guessing it would be more like 3 or 4% because of the steam deck but I forgot to consider that even among windows users, the gamers using steam are a small percentage so 4% of general Linux market share is expected to be lowered when it comes to steam users. But I am more surprised that macos has a similar share to Linux, I always assumed it is lower especially with steam deck around.
I agree with this. The ease of use is the biggest thing to get right.
With that being said I recently built a small form factor PC and installed chimera OS on it for my TV in the living room. It works just like the steam deck. Very low maintenance. I’ve been spending more time gaming on that than my actual PC. It’s always up to date, ready to go and I start playing when I’m ready.
I mean, I don’t know if it realllyyyy matters what the numbers are on paper right now. It matters how realistic it is for the average gamer to actually be happy buying and using Linux gaming hardware… and in my opinion the Steam Deck authoritatively demonstrates that capability, even after only the first generation of devices.
The fact is, it isn’t like most gamers actually like Microsoft it’s just Mac has always been way worse with games… so gaming has developed a default preference for Windows. Microsoft has treated it as its corporate mission to destroy any brand loyalty in gamers by repeatedly shitting on gaming and just assuming the gaming industry will keep choosing to build games for windows without doing anything to actually help foster that (besides anticompetitive sketchy shit probably).
Sure on paper, Linux is still a rounding error, but change can happen very quickly when it is simply a matter of a tipping point being reached, which oh boy if you like tipping points, well the 2020s are going to be chock full of em.
Yeah I believe the 2020s are gonna be paradigm shifting. But I think numbers do matter because the only way to get people to play on Linux is have other people play on Linux first to show them it’s good.
I get what you are saying, my point is that we aren’t in a time where the status quo should be assumed to continue indefinitely, the status quo is entirely unsustainable so we know changes are going to happen we just don’t know what they will be.
Microsoft could lose its foothold on pc gaming in a blink of an eye and totally lose the pc gaming market. It is only a couple of wrong steps away from potentially triggering that, all Linux has to do is keep getting more polished and keep presenting a more attractive alternative. The sea of change will happen and it will happen so fast it will make our heads spin, it’s just a matter of the right trigger events.
I mean, I don’t even think Microsoft gives a shit about Windows anymore as an actual operating system (rather than a surveillance device), I don’t think it would be impossible for Microsoft to decide to shift over to a modified Linux based OS and ditch Windows entirely.
Ideally for Microsoft they would buy Steam and the Steam Deck so they didn’t have to do any work, but oh my that would be an awful timeline.
My point is, be patient and take heart, change is coming.
I agree, other than the sea of change happening quickly I see it as a long grueling process of denial then some sort of retaliation and finally ends with adoption
There is a lot of inertia behind windows both in market share and user knowledge that will take a lot to get over. For example a bug part of why I stay on windows is because I’m simply a lot better at using it than Linux so troubleshooting is easier and quicker. Plus I haven’t found a distro yet that feels as idiot proof as windows as macos can be.
Damn even with all the efforts from steam, the Linux market share is less than 2 and fairly close to mac.
Change is slow and there aren’t many events that convince people to switch.
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Also most gamers either buy a PC or build and install Windows in 15 mins, install Steam, and that’s requirements met for all gaming. The most frustrating part being the minute or two to setup a Windows profile, or optionally installing a software (once) to ensure latest drivers.
Everything after that short setup is, “I want to play that.” click…wait for download… Done. Play now.
If you use your computer for things outside of gaming and average use, I could see the argument appealing to 98% of gamers. But so far, it’s clear the stats are not “Gamers would like macOS/Linux” rather, “Some macOS/Linux users game.”
You have to figure in Steam Deck users. Id say that a small percentage of windows users are gamers, as opposed to close to 100% of Steam deck users.
I wonder if the Survey counts Steam OS as linux or its own os.
Per the survey site, SteamOS counts as Linux, and represents about 45% of linux users (The second most used OS is Archlinux, representing 7.6% of the users)
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It’s sad because even my friends that are knowledgeable in using Linux, or even a few friends that daily driver Linux, aren’t committed to gaming on Linux and keep a Windows box around for gaming…
I made the switch to fully Linux when I built my new PC, recently, and I haven’t had any more issues than I had encountered on Windows in years past. Maybe a little more configuration, but I very rarely stuck to default configuration with Windows, either.
Linux gaming has come so far in the last several years that it barely even feels different from Windows
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Windows dominance isn’t surprising but I was guessing it would be more like 3 or 4% because of the steam deck but I forgot to consider that even among windows users, the gamers using steam are a small percentage so 4% of general Linux market share is expected to be lowered when it comes to steam users. But I am more surprised that macos has a similar share to Linux, I always assumed it is lower especially with steam deck around.
Keep in mind, 4% is 1 in 25 gamers.
I agree with this. The ease of use is the biggest thing to get right.
With that being said I recently built a small form factor PC and installed chimera OS on it for my TV in the living room. It works just like the steam deck. Very low maintenance. I’ve been spending more time gaming on that than my actual PC. It’s always up to date, ready to go and I start playing when I’m ready.
Yo thats awesome that’s like 1 percent higher then last year
I mean, I don’t know if it realllyyyy matters what the numbers are on paper right now. It matters how realistic it is for the average gamer to actually be happy buying and using Linux gaming hardware… and in my opinion the Steam Deck authoritatively demonstrates that capability, even after only the first generation of devices.
The fact is, it isn’t like most gamers actually like Microsoft it’s just Mac has always been way worse with games… so gaming has developed a default preference for Windows. Microsoft has treated it as its corporate mission to destroy any brand loyalty in gamers by repeatedly shitting on gaming and just assuming the gaming industry will keep choosing to build games for windows without doing anything to actually help foster that (besides anticompetitive sketchy shit probably).
Sure on paper, Linux is still a rounding error, but change can happen very quickly when it is simply a matter of a tipping point being reached, which oh boy if you like tipping points, well the 2020s are going to be chock full of em.
Yeah I believe the 2020s are gonna be paradigm shifting. But I think numbers do matter because the only way to get people to play on Linux is have other people play on Linux first to show them it’s good.
I get what you are saying, my point is that we aren’t in a time where the status quo should be assumed to continue indefinitely, the status quo is entirely unsustainable so we know changes are going to happen we just don’t know what they will be.
Microsoft could lose its foothold on pc gaming in a blink of an eye and totally lose the pc gaming market. It is only a couple of wrong steps away from potentially triggering that, all Linux has to do is keep getting more polished and keep presenting a more attractive alternative. The sea of change will happen and it will happen so fast it will make our heads spin, it’s just a matter of the right trigger events.
I mean, I don’t even think Microsoft gives a shit about Windows anymore as an actual operating system (rather than a surveillance device), I don’t think it would be impossible for Microsoft to decide to shift over to a modified Linux based OS and ditch Windows entirely.
Ideally for Microsoft they would buy Steam and the Steam Deck so they didn’t have to do any work, but oh my that would be an awful timeline.
My point is, be patient and take heart, change is coming.
I agree, other than the sea of change happening quickly I see it as a long grueling process of denial then some sort of retaliation and finally ends with adoption
There is a lot of inertia behind windows both in market share and user knowledge that will take a lot to get over. For example a bug part of why I stay on windows is because I’m simply a lot better at using it than Linux so troubleshooting is easier and quicker. Plus I haven’t found a distro yet that feels as idiot proof as windows as macos can be.