Steam On Linux Still Tap Dancing Around 0.9% Marketshare

[mozo]

The amount of time people spend tinkering with Linux, setting it right, fighting its issues, making games work costs a lot more than $50.

Windows on the other hand has been "install and forget about it" for more than a decade now. Windows even updates drivers for you nowadays.

Good joke. Linux was always "install and forget about it" unlike Windows. And Linux automatically installs and upgrades the drivers for decades. Educate yourself.

[andre30correia]

After 8 years 0.9% - this is disaster. And I remember the texts of the linux fanboys. Linux's entry on Steam was supposed to quickly destroy Windows because free and better - LOL: D.

why? Valve makes money with linux gaming, 0.9 is likely millions of profit every year and a alternative if something goes wrong with windows and mac(this is only a matter of time to stop having steam).

[Tuxee]

Daily reminder that i have never witnessed a steam survey on my client on Linux. Just this summer sale i spent 170 euros on linux native games, still no survey. There is something fishy going on here.

Unfortunately I got mine just yesterday. But rest assured: This "something's fishy" argument has been around since the dawn of Steam on Linux.

[ezst036]

https://www.pcgamer.com/au/gabe-newell-i-think-windows-8-is-a-catastrophe-for-everyone-in-the-pc-space/

"Valve wouldn't exist today without the PC," he insisted, "or Epic, or Zynga, or Google. They all wouldn't have existed without the openness of the platform. There's a strong temptation to close the platform, because they look at what they can accomplish when they limit the competitors' access to the platform, and they say, 'That's really exciting.'

“We are looking at the platform and saying, 'We've been a free rider, and we've been able to benefit from everything that went into PCs and the Internet, and we have to continue to figure out how there will be open platforms."

Newell even went as far as to say that a change of operating systems may be necessary in the future to preserve the open platform, so get those boot CDs ready.

"We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It's a hedging strategy," he said.

https://mygaming.co.za/news/business/58444-linux-the-future-of-gaming-steambox-imminent-valve.html

Later on in the speech Gabe touches on Windows and how the Microsoft Store changes things for the gaming industry. He believes that Windows 8 and the Store was not a good idea. “Platforms are becoming more controlled, the software developer market is controlled, the content is controlled, and so is the pricing. These companies should have embraced open platforms instead of proprietary retail models."

Seems only slightly cryptic. The point is that if the platform becomes so controlled to such a degree well then Valve has no reason to exist other than as just yet another game making company. That's the logical conclusion of the Microsoft Store.

Tim Sweeney expressed pretty much those exact same fears in his own way.

https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/232423-tim-sweeney-claims-microsoft-will-destroy-steam-gradually-using-windows-10

Ever since Microsoft announced it would launch the Windows Store as part of Windows 8, it’s drawn criticism from certain quarters. Gabe Newell’s entire Steam OS was a reaction against Windows — and an attempt to make certain that Microsoft’s store could never threaten Steam’s huge share of Windows game distribution. Tim Sweeney, the Unreal engine developer, has also criticized Microsoft's Windows 10 Store and the entire concept of the Universal Windows Platform. Microsoft has reached out to Sweeney on multiple occasions, but the developer is still unhappy — and he’s increased the volume of his rhetoric.

In a recent interview with Edge Magazine, Sweeney doubled down on the argument that UWP is part of a long-term plan to lock gamers into Microsoft’s distribution net.

[Yttrium]

Windows even updates drivers for you nowadays.

What's funny is that Linux is ahead of the curve on many of these features. Clearly linux (steam?) adoption isn't correlated with performance, features or even ease of use. Your Ubuntu distribution isn't that more quirky or complex compared to Windows gotcha's. Monopolies have the tendency to disrupt competition and create complacency.

I've never been asked to participate in the survey under Windows, under Linux I was asked right away. Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal.

I'm sure Steam is doing their best to randomly sample user accounts and machines, There have been survey issues when querying user accounts that all log in on the same machine in an internet cafe. That caused the same machine to be counted multiple times even though there always is "one" windows/nvidia machine set up. Linux desktop marketshare in general is 1-2%. Steam isn't going to be the reason people switch and I honestly don't see a reason for anyone to prefer linux over something everyone knows.

Not that it matters, Linux is doing great. We have mesa as an all in one graphics solution for all distributions and architectures.

[stormcrow]

Good joke. Linux was always "install and forget about it" unlike Windows. And Linux automatically installs and upgrades the drivers for decades. Educate yourself.

A) Not a joke. There's more fiddling with Linux to tweak things to suit for many people, just because you don't have the problem doesn't mean others don't. B) The main reason Windows dominates is because it comes on new PCs and only about 1% (of Steam's gamers at least) have a reason to take the effort to change that, even assuming they know there's an alternative. C) Microsoft/Office 365, while it can be used on Linux (via browser) the best use is either on Windows or Mac. Add up A, B, & C few developers cares about developing for Linux unless they're already in the free software culture and/or writing software for server systems, not clients. Why bother changing your OS as a gamer when your favorite game runs better on the OS that came with your computer. When I say better, it's not just frame rates. It's also graphical features (let's face it, most games are using OpenGL for cross platform and its feature and quality is utter garbage), game play features, frame stuttering and other long lived bugs in Linux. People shouldn't have to deal with any of it. Not saying Windows is bug free, I'm saying Linux as a gaming platform is worse.

[chocolate]

The amount of time people spend tinkering with Linux, setting it right, fighting its issues, making games work costs a lot more than $50.

Windows on the other hand has been "install and forget about it" for more than a decade now. Windows even updates drivers for you nowadays.

As you say in a later post, anecdotal evidence is anecdotal.
But the anecdotal evidence of so many people on ProtonDB compared to that of Windows users on Steam per-game discussions is that Proton works better in pretty much all games where there's no tinkering involved, especially so for older games in the realm of D3D9. Please mind this is my impression after exploring per-game discussions of about a hundred games.
When there's tinkering involved, then it becomes subjective whether the effort that has to be put into each game is worth not having to deal with Windows.
I mention Proton because, let's be honest, that's where the good stuff is at the moment.

As a (hopefully) fun additional anecdote, I recently completed Sunset Overdrive via Proton -- it was originally an Xbox exclusive published by Microsoft!

Cheers and happy gaming.

[writequit]

Thanks Gabe!

[avem]

Proton works better

Better how?

And what about NVIDIA/AMD Drivers Control Panels 95% of whose features are not available under Linux?
What about undervolting/fan curves/power limiting under Linux out of the box? Without using weird repos from github with software no one can vouch for?
What about anticheat solutions? Do they work under Linux?
What about RTX/DLSS support? OK, the latter is proprietary but the former is a standard and implemented in Vulkan as well.
What about proper OSD monitoring? Yeah, mongohud exists, what about configuring it using UI without editing and debugging god knows what text files? Oh, and mongohud doesn't always work, sometimes it's mangohud app, sometimes it's MANGOHUD=1 vkcube, sometimes it's MANGOHUD_DLSYM=1 mangohud glxgears.

You see, under Windows I install MSI Afterburner and I'm done. It works for AMD and NVIDIA. Everything in once place, easily configurable with a ton of options.

Again, Linux gaming is for those who have too much spare time and want to constantly learn and adapt. Under Windows it's "Install" followed by "Run".

And people wonder why Linux gaming doesn't take off. No everyone around is eager to dabble with command line and Googling to make things work. Some just want to play as they have more pressing issues in their lives.

[mozo]

Blah, blah, blah and again blah, blah, blah. It's extremely easy to run native Linux games. It's million times easier than on Windows. It's easy to play Windows games too and sometimes even easier than on Windows. And update your info about DLSS, nasty troll.