Linux's Marketshare Drops in Monthly Steam Survey (phoronix.com)
- Reference: 0176595225
- News link: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/03/03/0158226/linuxs-marketshare-drops-in-monthly-steam-survey
- Source link: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Steam-Survey-Feb-2025
11/24: 2.03%
12/24: 2.29%
01/25: 2.06%
02:25: 1.45%
"The February numbers show a staggering 0.61% drop to Linux use..." [2]reports Phoronix . But they attribute this to an sampling error:
> According to the survey, it shows 50% of Steam users using the Simplified Chinese language pack [a 20% increase from the month before]. In prior months where there has been drops to Linux use, it's been correlated to wild swings in the Chinese use on Steam. This looks to be another such month.
>
> Of the Linux specific data, SteamOS continues to prove most popular for that Valve distribution powering the Steam Deck [at 34.67%, with Arch Linux coming in second at 9.7%].
>
> AMD CPUs power around 70% of the Linux gaming systems thanks to the Steam Deck APU and AMD Ryzen being quite popular with Linux enthusiasts.
[1] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam
[2] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Steam-Survey-Feb-2025
Steam Survey Swinging Across The Board (Score:3)
A data point, in isolation, can be used to read in any explanation you like.
Elsewhere, itâ(TM)s widely reported that Steam survey numbers are swinging wildly across the board as Steam has recently had an explosion of growth in the Chinese gaming community, who tend to agree to participate in the survey more than Western users, in order to get greater representation.
The average CPU has decreased, the average GPU has decreased, and also Linuxâ(TM)s market share has decreased.
But what the survey doesnâ(TM)t say is whether the U.S. or EU markets have actually changed at all. Or whether the large Chinese market has simply moved the global average points hard.
Meanwhile, those who donâ(TM)t account for that are making pronouncements about how Linux is used much less for gaming⦠while numbers of players, numbers of installed games, have all likely remained very much the same.
So it's Year of the (Score:1)
...Shrinking Linux?
Steam (Score:3)
What this measures is how many people use Linux for playing games. Given that that is probably overall the demographic of computer users with the lowest level of technical knowledge, itis hardly surprising that the number is low. Given that the low percentage and the voluntary nature of the survey, the results are quite possibly not statistically significant.
GTA V Online stopped being supported (Score:1)
Maybe a major title like GTA V Online suddenly being unsupported has something to do with it?
Although the cheating was so rampant it was unplayable on steam.
Re: (Score:2)
> Maybe a major title like GTA V Online suddenly being unsupported has something to do with it?
> Although the cheating was so rampant it was unplayable on steam.
The Rockstar Launcher version of GTA V Online is full of cheaters, too. You pretty much can't play that game in a public lobby on anything except a console. Even then, my partner has an Xbox so I've seen that by going console you're really just trading all the hacks and mods on the PC for lobbies full of griefers and dumbshit kids.
For a game that's as old as GTA V Online, it seems silly to be saying this, but you either play with people you know in a private session, or just... play something else.
It's entirely my fault (Score:2)
I still haven't bought a Steam Deck. My bad.
Support is needed (Score:2)
I'd use Steam a whole lot more if more titles natively supported linux, the amount of voodoo I needed to do to even get Deep Rock Galactic to work under Linux took a few hours of my time to troubleshoot, it should not be that hard.
I wonder (Score:2)
If the people who provided these statistics knowingly consented to this data collection
Re: (Score:3)
yea, every once in a while they ask you if you want to be in the steam survey
Re: I wonder (Score:1)
How to say I donâ(TM)t use steam without saying it. Itâ(TM)s entirely optional and youâ(TM)re asked if you want to participate. I always say yes because my rig is sick and everyone should know.
Re: (Score:3)
My rig is sick too. GTX 960 and 6th gen CPU. It needs a booster shot.
Re: (Score:2)
You can get a 1080 TI for about $120 to $150 off eBay pretty easily. Less if you really want to spend some time sniping
If you want to try AMD out you can get a 5700 XT for 100 bucks pretty much all day long. Some of them are going to be old cryptocurrency mining cards but don't let that turn you off they're fine. You can even go with a gigabyte or an ASUS, for whatever reason for that one series of cards they were making decent stuff for AMD. though you should look for a sapphire or a XFX if you can ge
Re: (Score:2)
You cannot really "accidently" submit to the survey, it brings up an entire dialog box to do it.