Steam Survey Shows Linux Marketshare Hitting 1.0%

[ezst036]

Linux, 7-8 yeas ago was more popular as percentage than today.

Statcounter has numbers from 2013 - 8 years ago.

Today linux usage is at 2.4%. 8 years ago linux usage was at 1.13%. Linux is used by more people today as a percentage.(and in total)

https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide/2013

[wertigon]

It gets even better than that...

2013, registered steam users were ~24 million, of those 2% were Linux users, so 480 000
2021, registered steam users were ~120 million, of those 1% were Linux users, so 1 200 000

That is an increase of 150% in absolute numbers.

Of course, Windows players grew by 400% or so during the same time period, so could've been better.

[F.Ultra]

Lol, if they count Steam Deck as Linux (which it technically is) I wonder how much that would affect Steam on Linux marketshare? Obviously depends on how many Steam Decks they sell, but it should be a decent amount.

I don't think that the deck will show the survey. The Steam Survey is an optional thingy that pops up and I don't think that they will want to have that on the deck.

[F.Ultra]

Can you please explain how being able to effortlessly deploy Full Disk Encryption is bad for users? Because that's what TPM2 allows for. Not only on Windows, but Linux too. You can finally forget about stupid "unlock keys" or even worse, USB keys, just let the TPM chip do the work.

The majority of notebooks made in the last 3 years have a TPM2 chip. All Ryzen CPUs have a built-in fTPM too. Many existing desktop motherboards have a TPM2 header, too. Requiring TPM2 is a non-issue blown out of proportion by the paranoid ones. It's not a disadvantage, it's an advantage.

It's like complaining if a new WiFi standard made WPA3 support mandatory. It's about friggin' time!

Only the latest generation of Ryzens have fTPM and loads and loads of motherboards have TPM2 pins but no chip (mine only have the pins).

[F.Ultra]

Hm, Zen 2 atleast has TPM 2.0 through fTPM, and I believe Intel Skylake and newer atleast have TPM 2.0 through fTPM. So, quite a few chips are supported.

But yeah, Microsoft is leaving quite a few chips by the wayside. Maybe it will just be a requirement for new systems launching with Windows 11 ?

Hmm, according to the Internet my 1600X should have a fTPM but my BIOS/UEFI refuses to see it (and my MOBO which is built for the first genereation of Ryzen have TPM pins but no chip). An earlier google showed only support for 5xxxx hence my initial idea of only the latest generation.

[F.Ultra]

Hm, the Steam Survey doesn't seem representative of the actual distribution if it's random. Why not just gather the data? I have no problem with automatically reporting computer specs as long as I can change the option to do so.

I think that Valve does not want to fall into the "telemetry trap" and actually play nice while simultaneously not having a use for excessively detailed data. It doesn't really give them much more information to base decisions on if Linux is say 0.5% or 1%, only if it would be 1% vs 10% and even a granular random survey is enough to collect such data.

[HEL88]

I'm not sure that you're talking about the same thing.

I talking about Linux share on Steam. In 2013 linux has 2% and now has only 1%.

[HEL88]

Since you seem to be deliberately misinterpreting data, let's look at how many steam users there are now and were in 2017.

Around 0.7%(your graph shows somewhere between 0.6 and 0.8) of 67 million makes 469 thousand whereas 1% of 120 million makes 1.2 million. A %141 increase in linux users is hardly being less popular in comparison to the past. Ignoring the fact that the total amount of steam users is increasing faster than the amount of steam users on linux to make it look as if less people are using linux is untruthful, or more severely - a lie.

And Windows player increased from about 450 thousand to 1 150 thousand in this time.

You forgot, in 2013 linux had 2% and now has only 1% - this is totally disaster.

[mbrf]

Lol, if they count Steam Deck as Linux (which it technically is) I wonder how much that would affect Steam on Linux marketshare? Obviously depends on how many Steam Decks they sell, but it should be a decent amount.

I don't see why it wouldn't be counted as Linux. It's a full Linux desktop that's on there, with laptop/console hardware.
On IGN interviews, Gaben has stated that they expect to sell millions of them.
If the current Steam Linux userbase is 1,2million, and that makes up 1%, then it would likely exceed 3%.
If this in any way makes some of the windows users aware that Linux exists, and makes others see that not only hackers are using Linux, that could potentially trickle into more desktop users, which again would feed the steam on Linux statistics - I know... I'm hopeful, and realistically, Valve hasn't had the best track record with hardware 😂

[mbrf]

And Windows player increased from about 450 thousand to 1 150 thousand in this time.

You forgot, in 2013 linux had 2% and now has only 1% - this is totally disaster.

But consider the fact that massive influx in the beginning likely was linux users to begin with, that wanted to see if they could ditch windows, or make a viable console, but when they found that a lot of game developers wasn't porting thier games, would likely use their Steam on Linux less.
I completely get that it has been declining as a percentage, but I find it impressive that it's grown in numbers.
If anti-cheat gets functional on Linux (which is in the works), which is what keeps some of the more popular games from being played on Linux, and Valve can make good on their promise that the whole Steam library will work on Steam on Linux (SteamDeck), then the people who has Windows only for gaming, can switch completely to Linux, others can spend more time on Linux, all of which will increase the statistics of Steam on Linux users.

I don't see it as a disaster. I see it as curiousity about something that wasn't quite ready, and something that wasn't backed by enough game-developers to properly gain traction - yet enough people has stuck with it, that it's still alive, and is now slightly on the rise again.