Game on! Penguin levels up as Linux finally cracks 3% on Steam
(2025/11/04)
- Reference: 1762275407
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/11/04/steam_on_linux_numbers_up/
- Source link:
The latest edition of Valve's monthly Steam Hardware & Software Survey is out, showing a rise in Steam usage on Linux. Penguin likes to play!
In isolation, the [1]numbers aren't all that impressive. Linux usage is at 3.05 percent, up 0.37 percentage points from last month. However, it's a significant uptick compared to the [2]October 2024 results , which showed Linux usage at exactly two percent, up a mere 0.13 percentage points. It's also up about 0.4 percentage points from the [3]August survey numbers .
Yes, only a bit over one percentage point in a year - but compared to the total user numbers, that's roughly a 50 percent jump. Adding half again to your market share in a year isn't bad going. Keep this up and soon, you're talking real mon— oh, wait, free software. Never mind.
[4]
Coupled with this is another bit of analysis of the Steam-on-Linux market from Linux gaming site Boiling Steam, which reported that by the end of October 2025, Windows games' compatibility on Linux is at an [5]all-time high . It buries the lede a little, but it gets there eventually:
the amount of games that refuse to launch is ... getting very close to just 10%. This means that close to 90% of Windows games manage to launch on Linux.
Now, to be fair, just because a game launches doesn't mean it runs well enough to play - it might start but still be unplayable for all sorts of reasons: being unusably slow, suffering from stutter or lag, showing graphics corruption, or constantly crashing. We've also read that some multiplayer games use anti-cheat measures that run at a low level and talk directly to the Windows OS - something emulation probably can't fix in the foreseeable future. Even so, though, being able to run is a good start. It can be the point where a vendor starts troubleshooting what's wrong, as opposed to telling customers something simply isn't compatible.
[6]Framework flame war erupts over support of politically polarizing Linux projects
[7]Linux vendors are getting into Ubuntu – and Snap
[8]How and why Linux has thrived after three decades in Kernelland
[9]How and why Linux has thrived after three decades in Kernelland
This can't simply be attributed to the Steam Deck. The Register [10]reported on that way back in 2021 , so it's no longer new and shiny. There is other, newer SteamOS gadgetry, though. In January, Lenovo announced the first handheld officially licensed to [11]ship with Valve's SteamOS , the [12]Lenovo Legion Go S . However, that officially went on sale back in May, so it's a little too early to judge its impact.
It's almost as if [13]something happened earlier in October to make loads of people try out Linux. What an enduring mystery for the ages. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20241128002117/https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/?platform=combined
[3] https://web.archive.org/web/20251001072742/https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aQoxKKnkjdKtgQOODnTbmwAAAVg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://boilingsteam.com/windows-games-compatibility-on-linux-is-at-a-all-time-high/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/14/framework_linux_controversy/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/31/linux_vendors_getting_into_snap/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/18/three_decades_in_of_linux/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/18/three_decades_in_of_linux/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/16/steam_deck_portable_gaming_pc/
[11] https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/593110/view/529834914570306831
[12] https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/p/handheld/legion-go-series/legion-go-s-powered-by-steamos/len106g0003
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/16/windows_10_office_and_servers/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
In isolation, the [1]numbers aren't all that impressive. Linux usage is at 3.05 percent, up 0.37 percentage points from last month. However, it's a significant uptick compared to the [2]October 2024 results , which showed Linux usage at exactly two percent, up a mere 0.13 percentage points. It's also up about 0.4 percentage points from the [3]August survey numbers .
Yes, only a bit over one percentage point in a year - but compared to the total user numbers, that's roughly a 50 percent jump. Adding half again to your market share in a year isn't bad going. Keep this up and soon, you're talking real mon— oh, wait, free software. Never mind.
[4]
Coupled with this is another bit of analysis of the Steam-on-Linux market from Linux gaming site Boiling Steam, which reported that by the end of October 2025, Windows games' compatibility on Linux is at an [5]all-time high . It buries the lede a little, but it gets there eventually:
the amount of games that refuse to launch is ... getting very close to just 10%. This means that close to 90% of Windows games manage to launch on Linux.
Now, to be fair, just because a game launches doesn't mean it runs well enough to play - it might start but still be unplayable for all sorts of reasons: being unusably slow, suffering from stutter or lag, showing graphics corruption, or constantly crashing. We've also read that some multiplayer games use anti-cheat measures that run at a low level and talk directly to the Windows OS - something emulation probably can't fix in the foreseeable future. Even so, though, being able to run is a good start. It can be the point where a vendor starts troubleshooting what's wrong, as opposed to telling customers something simply isn't compatible.
[6]Framework flame war erupts over support of politically polarizing Linux projects
[7]Linux vendors are getting into Ubuntu – and Snap
[8]How and why Linux has thrived after three decades in Kernelland
[9]How and why Linux has thrived after three decades in Kernelland
This can't simply be attributed to the Steam Deck. The Register [10]reported on that way back in 2021 , so it's no longer new and shiny. There is other, newer SteamOS gadgetry, though. In January, Lenovo announced the first handheld officially licensed to [11]ship with Valve's SteamOS , the [12]Lenovo Legion Go S . However, that officially went on sale back in May, so it's a little too early to judge its impact.
It's almost as if [13]something happened earlier in October to make loads of people try out Linux. What an enduring mystery for the ages. ®
Get our [14]Tech Resources
[1] https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam
[2] https://web.archive.org/web/20241128002117/https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/?platform=combined
[3] https://web.archive.org/web/20251001072742/https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aQoxKKnkjdKtgQOODnTbmwAAAVg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://boilingsteam.com/windows-games-compatibility-on-linux-is-at-a-all-time-high/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/14/framework_linux_controversy/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/31/linux_vendors_getting_into_snap/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/18/three_decades_in_of_linux/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/09/18/three_decades_in_of_linux/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/16/steam_deck_portable_gaming_pc/
[11] https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/593110/view/529834914570306831
[12] https://www.lenovo.com/gb/en/p/handheld/legion-go-series/legion-go-s-powered-by-steamos/len106g0003
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2025/10/16/windows_10_office_and_servers/
[14] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/