Linux Exceeds 3% Marketshare on Steam Hardware Survey for First Time

The Mad Draklor

The Mad Draklor

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Steam On Linux Gaming Finally Cracks 3% For October 2025 - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com www.phoronix.com

For the first time ever, Linux surpassed 3% marketshare on the Steam Hardware Survey at a 3.05% clip. At the same point last year, Linux was at 2% marketshare and the year before that, at 1.39%. If you are to look at marketshare among English language users only, Linux makes up 6.61%, also an all-time high.

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When analyzing the Linux-specific data, SteamOS makes up 27.18% of all installs which was down by 0.47 points from the previous month. This would mean while the Steam Deck is helping Linux grow, the traditional Linux desktop is also pulling its weight.

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There is still a long ways to before Linux becomes "too big to ignore". Multiplayer games will forever be a nagging issue because that's up to the developers to enable anti-cheat for Linux. The Nvidia GPU experience on Linux is still far from hassle-free, but the NVK driver is making progress such as enabling DLSS support.

November 2025 update:

The Mad Draklor said:
Bump update:

Linux marketshare increased again to 3.20% for November, a 0.15 point increase from October. Of course, this means this is a new all-time high. I predicted that there will be a pullback, but I was wrong.

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Interestingly, among Linux OS'es only, the "SteamOS Holo" share went down again. This implies the growth was driven by desktop installs like in October.

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Nice to see Pop!_OS make the list -- used that for years very merrily, although I'm on Zorin OS atm after someone on here recommended it (cheers!) and it seems like a keeper. I'm shopping around for a new PC atm and stuck my head in a local place that builds systems and he was like "They all come with Windows", and I thought to myself "It is 2025 who the fuck uses Windows?", so I guess now I know... roughly 97% of Steam users, that's who :messenger_grinning:
 
It will get bigger once nvidia improves their drivers. RIght now performance is on par with windows for dx11 and vulkan titles, but are a tier below windows for DX12.

Once that DXVK problem gets fixed on nvidia I will switch to Linux for my gaming PC.
 
The Mad Draklor said:

Steam On Linux Gaming Finally Cracks 3% For October 2025 - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com www.phoronix.com

For the first time ever, Linux surpassed 3% marketshare on the Steam Hardware Survey at a 3.05% clip. At the same point last year, Linux was at 2% marketshare and the year before that, at 1.39%. If you are to look at marketshare among English language users only, Linux makes up 6.61%, also an all-time high.

0cmmX0O.png


When analyzing the Linux-specific data, SteamOS makes up 27.18% of all installs which was down by 0.47 points from the previous month. This would mean while the Steam Deck is helping Linux grow, the traditional Linux desktop is also pulling its weight.

image.php


There is still a long ways to before Linux becomes "too big to ignore". Multiplayer games will forever be a nagging issue because that's up to the developers to enable anti-cheat for Linux. The Nvidia GPU experience on Linux is still far from hassle-free, but the NVK driver is making progress such as enabling DLSS support.
Click to expand...
Once nvidia can solve the DX12 performance issues, nvidia will become viable. There is reason to believe that may happen.

AMD is still the way to go for Linux. Sadly they still have the HDMI 2.1 issue that affects those wanting to run their linux pcs as a console.
 
8 million Steamdecks have been sold according to Google.
I think that should be enough to warrant the anticheat thing. Get Fortnite and the other online games involved, maybe it will sell even more.
 
All I want is for the bazzite team or valve or even nvidia themselves solve the issues with nvidia driver on wayland, gamescope etc...
 
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Interesting to see CachyOS growing so strongly. Solid desktop credentials and its very plug-and-play for games (which isnt true for all linux distros). Its the one to watch IMO
 
RCX said:
Interesting to see CachyOS growing so strongly.
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I don't disto-hop very often at all, but I feel like I'm going to have to give CachyOS and Bazzite a whirl in the near future. You all realise this forum is where I'll come for support I hope.
 
Ev1L AuRoN said:
If it runs on linux Im all for it. An Nvidia console is another thing entirely. Just like rog aly x is not a console.
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As long as they don't lock it down like a console I'm all for it. The Ally X is just Windows with a Big Screen Mode.
Notice the Nvidia hardware thats not using Windows is a locked down Nintendo Switch. :(
 
the fact that even Steam is this splintered when it comes to the distros used is also why most devs will never natively support Linux btw.

when Steam's own OS can't even get a majority of Linux users on Steam 😬 not even if we combine it with Arch
 
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I'm rooting for everything that's not Windows. If I didn't have to use a Windows-based PC for work I'd abandon that shit a long time ago.
 
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kevboard said:
the fact that even Steam is this splintered when it comes to the distros used is also why most devs will never natively support Linux btw.

when Steam's own OS can't even get a majority of Linux users on Steam 😬 not even if we combine it with Arch
Click to expand...

No big deal. Hardly anyone is even asking for that.
 
JohnnyFootball said:
Once nvidia can solve the DX12 performance issues, nvidia will become viable. There is reason to believe that may happen.
Click to expand...

I believe the root cause has been identified and is actively being worked on. Though it will need a new extension to Vulkan so it might take a while before it lands.
 
kevboard said:
the fact that even Steam is this splintered when it comes to the distros used is also why most devs will never natively support Linux btw.
Click to expand...
They don't have to, wine translation layers do all the heavy lifting. Only thing we may ask of them is to not implement kernel level stuff like anti-cheat.
 
Magic Carpet said:
As long as they don't lock it down like a console I'm all for it. The Ally X is just Windows with a Big Screen Mode.
Notice the Nvidia hardware thats not using Windows is a locked down Nintendo Switch. :(
Click to expand...

There was the Nvidia Shield which was just running Android with a Tegra gpu and a bundled gamepad; easy enough to sideload onto at the time (granted that wasn't a PC, it was an ARM tablet-grade device with an HDMI out , but so - basically - is NS2)
 
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Guilty_AI said:
They don't have to, wine translation layers do all the heavy lifting. Only thing we may ask of them is to not implement kernel level stuff like anti-cheat.
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They have to make native Linux versions. Steamboxes will ensure that.
 
Damn, I knew CachyOS had gained traction, but I never expected it to be exceeding Bazzite.

kevboard said:
the fact that even Steam is this splintered when it comes to the distros used is also why most devs will never natively support Linux btw.

when Steam's own OS can't even get a majority of Linux users on Steam 😬 not even if we combine it with Arch
Click to expand...

Eh, the only reason it's this splintered with SteamOS is that Valve only packages the OS with their own handheld, and the few other handhelds they later opened compatibility with already were working on Bazzite (and others) for some time before. SteamOS won't really be tested for actual market penetration until they open it up for download to use on desktop/laptops, or possibly make some compelling console-sized box.

The solutions to natively support Linux with all the different distros is to either use universal packaging formats (appimage, flatpak, Steam runtime), or statically linked binaries.
 
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kevboard said:
the fact that even Steam is this splintered when it comes to the distros used is also why most devs will never natively support Linux btw.

when Steam's own OS can't even get a majority of Linux users on Steam 😬 not even if we combine it with Arch
Click to expand...
SteamOS is only supported on the steamdeck. There is no desktop release.
 
IF valve can solve the kernel level anitcheat they could release the desktop version of Steam OS.

... the way to solve it is to give the devs an alternative.
 
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Bernkastel said:
They have to make native Linux versions. Steamboxes will ensure that.
Click to expand...
Problem is they often don't know how to even if they do try. The performance difference between games that do have native linux version vs them running through a wine layer tends to be minimal too.

I think developing a native linux version isn't worth much unless there's either constant support (old native ports are more often than not broken in modern distros) or the game is open source.
 
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Guilty_AI said:
Problem is they often don't know how to even if they do try. The performance difference between games that do have native linux version vs them running through a wine layer tends to be minimal too.
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I think digital foundry did a comparison where the Linux native build of Baldur's Gate 3 for the Steam Deck improved performance by like 15%, but then that horror game Cronos did a Linux native build that ran worse than Proton. So varies based probably on the optimization effort/competency.
 
Nice to see it's improving, but still too small.

I see Linux has the appeal of being free, open source and able to achieve better performance that Windows, it's improving a lot but I think we're still a few years away from seeing full compatibility and getting betting performance in all cases than in Windows.

I think it's important to continue progressing and to reduce the dependency regarding OS on Windows, Google, Apple or any other big tech company.
 
kevboard said:
the fact that even Steam is this splintered when it comes to the distros used is also why most devs will never natively support Linux btw.

when Steam's own OS can't even get a majority of Linux users on Steam 😬 not even if we combine it with Arch
Click to expand...

Do distros change anything support wise? If a dev uses linux I mean, works on all distros or its messy?
 
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