Steam On Linux Still Tap Dancing Around 0.9% Marketshare

Even with Steam Play continuing to get into quite good shape for running recent Windows game releases on Linux with ease thanks to the work Valve has been investing into Proton, DXVK, VKD3D-Proton, and lower-level Linux graphics infrastructure, for now at least the overall marketshare is holding steady at around 0.8~0.9% for the past number of months.

Since the introduction of Steam Play where the Linux gaming marketshare ticked up off its lows, the Linux marketshare has been holding steady in the 0.8~0.9% range for the past two years or so. Granted with Steam's overall user base likely still growing, the absolute Linux gamer count appears to at least be keeping base proportionally.

The Steam Survey numbers were updated overnight for June 2021. For the past month it shows a 0.03% uptick to put the Linux marketshare at 0.89% to macOS at 2.54% and Windows at 96.57%.

With not many new high profile Linux game ports coming out besides the occasional Feral release or the recent Metro Exodus for Linux, most of the excitement these days for Linux gaming is on the Steam Play front. Steam Play with its underlying open-source components is making quite remarkable progress and certainly interesting in technical terms. But for the average gamer provides little incentive for switching over to Linux just to keep playing the same games they have been on Windows with roughly the same (or less) performance. Though it will be interesting to see what Valve ultimately does in the console / portable gaming space for any Linux-based devices that in turn could help drive up Linux adoption if it proves to be a success this time around.

In any case those wanting to see the June Steam Survey numbers can find them here. The Linux numbers show Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS still as the most popular followed by Manjaro. Intel has around a 63% CPU marketshare for Linux gamers to AMD at 36%.