Steam Hardware and Software Survey Linux statistics

This page is updated near the beginning of every month with the most recent results from Steam's Hardware and Software Survey. Bookmark it and check back as new surveys are released.

Steam Survey Linux User Percentage for this month

Linux User Percentage

The drop in Linux user share in late 2017 to early 2018 was due to a combination of factors. First was a counting error in the survey that Valve admitted to and later fixed. The error resulted in over-inflated user numbers from net cafes. Additionally, this time period was the peak player count for the hugely successful title PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. PUBG brought a lot of new players to the Steam platform from regions where net cafes are a popular way to play games. Both of these factors combined to substantially deflate the Linux user share on Steam. Because of overall growth of Steam however, a drop in Linux share does not necessarily mean an absolute drop in Linux players.

Steam Survey Linux User Percentage

Linux User Percentage by OS Language

Restricting to reported OS language shows some interesting results with regards to the Linux share on Steam. The percentage of Linux users, of those with an English language OS, is around twice that of the general population. It's unclear whether this difference is due more English speakers preferring Linux, or more Linux users preferring English. But it's a surprising difference non-the-less.

Steam Survey Linux User Percentage by OS Language

Processor Preference of Linux Users

Since the release of AMDs Ryzen CPU line in early 2017, more and more Linux users have been foregoing Intel processors in favour of AMD. AMD became the dominent CPU vendor among Linux gamers in July 2022, due to a combination of attractive offerings and the wider release of the AMD APU-based Steam Deck.

Steam Survey Linux User Processor Vendor Usage

GPU Vendor Preference of Linux Users

Note: GPU vendors were missing for Linux users on Steam's survey during most of 2021.

AMD is taking up ground in the GPU space among Linux users on Steam. The results of AMDs open source initiative began to bear fruit in 2017/18 as game performance approached some of Nvidia's offerings.

With the AMD-based Steam Deck's success and inclusion in Steam's Linux stats, AMD now has a clear majority in GPUs.

Steam Survey Linux User GPU Vendor Usage

Most Popular Linux Distros

Steam (unfortunately) does not report many different Linux distributions, preferring to group most in the 'Other' category.

Ubuntu remains the most popular Linux distribution on Steam and many Linux games specifically target Ubuntu as a supported OS. This has the effect of generally being the smoothest experience for new users. Outside of Ubuntu, there is a great variety of Linux distributions, many of which will also have no issues running games on Steam.

Steam Survey Linux Top Distros

Source: all data sourced from Steam's Hardware and Software Survey


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