Linux Gaming Market Share Reaches 1 Percent on Steam

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Image: Valve

Valve has been spending some significant time over the past few years improving the state of gaming on the Linux platform with admirable initiatives such as Proton, a compatibility layer that allows many games that were originally developed for Windows to run on Linux-based operating systems.

According to the latest Steam Hardware Survey, Valve’s efforts in bolstering Linux gaming is steadily paying off, as the amount of Linux gamers on Steam have managed to rise to 1 percent for the first time in many years. (Linux gaming market share actually hit 2 percent around the time Proton was originally announced.)

It isn’t clear what drove this newer spike in Linux gamers on Steam, but one possible reason might stem from the hype behind Valve’s upcoming handheld PC, the Steam Deck, which leverages Arch Linux. Many prospective owners may have jumped on Ubuntu and other popular distributions to see just how well their favorite games run on Proton and how extensive the compatibility truly is.

Image: Valve

Steam conducts a monthly survey to collect data about what kinds of computer hardware and software our customers are using. Participation in the survey is optional, and anonymous. The information gathered is incredibly helpful to us as we make decisions about what kinds of technology investments to make and products to offer.

Source: Steam

Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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