Steam On Linux Drops Below 2% For August 2024 Survey

[mSparks]

Seems like Linux didn't necessarily shrink. It's that Windows grew with more Chinese players joining Steam.

Seems likely. Nothing much interesting happened tbh. But it is gonna be very interesting to see what happens when some 50% of windows machines go end of life in a year, and the only supported windows version includes sending everything you do and save on windows to people who specialise in industrial espionage and blackmail. I suspect/hope the numbers of windows users then drops of a cliff, that or everyone is in a lot of trouble.

[LockedPotato]

Seems like Linux didn't necessarily shrink. It's that Windows grew with more Chinese players joining Steam.

[loganj]

No, doesn't matter though. Steam is just a launcher, not a game where performnce is important

by steam i meant proton.
i know wine lately started to add support for wayland (still not complete) but does proton has it yet?

[skeevy420]

Interesting, thanks, I'd never heard of Optiscaler.

I stumbled across it a couple of days ago. I just hope it isn't yet another pirated LukeFZ scaling mod.

[blackiwid]

Valve for sure knows the exact number of Linux gamers and how many Linux machines with steam installed.

Then they should publish this data instead of the manually filled survey data that apparently is trash... how can the steam deck be a huge success sell each month most keep using linux on it the general market share of linux for desktop increases even the forever negative Nancy Lunduke finally admitted it, but they make the absurd claim that Linux market share goes down.

Even in the threads about the Windows Debacle where it's shown that Windows runs AMD Hardware so bad that new patches remove some of the artificial intentional sabotages for a fanatic security cult over everything else shit, I read people saying they will switch now or try Linux again, because it sucks that you have to buy 1 newer gen just to make up for the slow Windows OS.

[MillionToOne]

so steam has wayland support?????
since when?

No, doesn't matter though. Steam is just a launcher, not a game where performnce is important

[pWe00Iri3e7Z9lHOX2Qx]

Also, Optiscaler over on Nexusmods is the shiznit. It replaces DLSS with either XeSS, FSR2, or FSR3. I'm using it for FSR3 on Myst and Control to get 1440p60 ultrawide with high/epic settings and ray tracing set to medium (or just on in the case of Myst). I'm using a custom rendering scale of 1.44 on Control via that mod.

Interesting, thanks, I'd never heard of Optiscaler.

[Ladis]

That said, I actually predict that the Steam DRM platform will shut down for macOS first (and in the not too distant future). The uptake feels lethargic at best and the fast deprecation of previous macOS revisions is actually starting to become an issue for them. Many games only run on the older macOS revisions and yet the Steam DRM Platform only runs on the newer revisions.

As written in the linked article, 98%+ Mac users run recent macOS versions. The support for 32bit (emulation) must be done in the Mac version of Proton, which may be getting prepared now (as of rumours). Because it is needed also for the ARM support. Until that, Mac users have to use 3rd-party solutions and run the Windows version of Steam and games (tools like CrossOver, Heroic app, or WINE in the console for experts).

[kpedersen]

DRM is something most people who know Open Source or Free Software would not consider
being worth money ...
With Steam being founded by former Microsoft people ... DRM and other monopoly tactics is common.

This is the key one. The guys who are serious about Linux and have been since its beginning have ditched this crap decades ago.

You have a small minority of young Windows -> Linux gamers but they tend to get bored or go back to Windows as soon as a game they want to play comes out on limited platforms. But other than that, Linux really is not a good market for the Steam DRM Platform.

Valve is playing it smart keeping its head just above water with regards to Linux, in case Microsoft does anything too mad to Windows. But this really is no competition (and I imagine it is within Valve's best interest to artificially keep it this way!). Ultimately the usability of Windows as an open(enough)-platform will probably hold out longer than Valve and the Steam DRM Platform.

That said, I actually predict that the Steam DRM platform will shut down for macOS first (and in the not too distant future). The uptake feels lethargic at best and the fast deprecation of previous macOS revisions is actually starting to become an issue for them. Many games only run on the older macOS revisions and yet the Steam DRM Platform only runs on the newer revisions.

[JMB9]

It is interesting that Steam is presented as if it matters for people using Linux.

First there scripts/programs for Windows are faster than their Linux things ...
I have never experienced that except for Steam.
So all people who not only test but use Linux would not consider Steam.

Games sold on Steam for Linux are predominantly made with emulators/layering.
Someone using Linux would know that this is inferior crap and would want a port.
On other platforms one may get rather no 32 bit SW as Linux people know that this is just old trash.
Not on Steam - as people there want to play - typically below 4k resolution (as in ancient times) and
probably with insane freuquencies like 120 Hz (which does not matter at all as it won't have a visible
difference if the frequency is above 90 Hz).

DRM is something most people who know Open Source or Free Software would not consider
being worth money ...
With Steam being founded by former Microsoft people ... DRM and other monopoly tactics is common.

Maybe most gamers would not care about inferior technique - or short lifetime of necessary
services (at least when buying a game) - and would even be happy to get latest mods not available
on other game selling platforms than Steam (it is not their property - but they make sure that they
are only provided for their own customers and wordings can be found on Steam that modders are
thinking that they have no right to share it on free accesible alternatives ... really a nice reading).

For me, Steam is not existing as my quality minimum would never be reached by their offerings ...
anyone can consider what one think is appropriate.

But Linux and Steam does not fit ... especially when libraries should be used (Steam is not the
only platform to urge people using special libraries - to be fair here) which makes it harder
to create games for other platforms. Such libs are well known for controllers or for editors ...

And when reading about compatibility: compatibility was introduced by IBM for PC which made it
a success - this is unheard-of in Microsoft environment.
They set their own standards (which change rapidly) and one is forced from one version to the next.
This is not only concerning Word and other office apps (would not call those programs at all).

So people who like Steam should buy there - but those people will definetely use Windows.
If one is using Linux, one is used to see no crashes - and this would not fit to most of those
gaming experience.

Talking with devs quality concerning bug report and also of feature requests are much higher
when gamers use Linux. Using discord and looking at devs known for well written games
one can clearly see a difference just by reading the feedback.
On the other hand Linux market share is lower - so just developing Windows games is
enough for most developers (testing for Linux is normally not even done - and Linux
ports withdrawn when problem reports are sent in).
Both should not be too surprising - Linux is not preinstalled (if you look at what you would get,
you would delete it anyway and install yourself) - Linux people know what they are doing and
would normally work much more then using time for gaming.
If one has a glance on Steam pages ... there is a lot of contradicting information or important
things just left out. I have not seen a technically convincing product page ... and most things
are coming from gamers or directly from devs.

Everyone is free in making desisions - but for me a low percentage of Steam users is abolutely ok.
If Linux would dominate on Steam ... I would feel very uncomfortable.

It is good as it is right now.

Steam is not at all appealing for Linux users ... at least from my point of view
(using kernel Linux before 1.0 and looking on gaming scene to get quality indicators and
defining good design for some gaming prototypes for education purposes ...).