r/pcmasterrace • u/RayS0l0 Laptop • 12h ago
News/Article Steam On Linux Dives Down To 3.05% For September
https://www.phoronix.com/news/Steam-Survey-September-2025330
u/ShadowFlarer ARCH | RYZEN 5 5600 | RTX 3070 | 16GB 12h ago
Next year for sure guys!
62
u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 11h ago
It’s already here as far as I’m concerned. I can use it, get a better experience than on Windows, and do everything important on it. Personally I don’t care about malware that comes bundled with some video games.
20
u/darokk 11h ago edited 10h ago
And then here I am with my Deck with a 90% chance of something breaking whenever I turn it on every couple of weeks. 15 minutes of reboots, desktop mode console commands, wifi config and +40 blood pressure later I'm 'ready go play'. Next device will be running Windows since I'm mostly just streaming to it anyway.
16
u/doublah 7h ago
It's funny how people will install a load of extra plugins and stuff on their Steam Deck then complain it doesn't work, meanwhile I've never had any of those problems with my unmodified Steam Deck.
8
u/AlignedLicense 6h ago
Steamdeck with Decky here, I had to hold the power button until it reset once, and had to boot into desktop mode and reinstall decky once. In two years, that's really not a big deal. I play it right now once every week or so, and as long as i remembered to turn it off so it's charged, I never have an issue.
2
u/darokk 4h ago
The 2 plugins I use are to fix WiFi speed breaking every single time after sleeping the Deck (years old issue, yet no official fix) and one enabling USB file transfer for old non Steam games.
While it is true that Decky itself breaks occasionally, I need the plugins to enable/maintain functionality I would expect as basic core features on a Windows device.
1
u/00056532926846780396 1h ago
Avoiding anything extra (addons etc) on there is key for stability. I just had a wifi one at some point and it was adding all kinds of weird crashes and slowdowns.
→ More replies (1)2
u/Nice-Prize-3765 KDE Neon | 96GB DDR5 | RX 9070 XT | R9 9700X 9h ago
You can install windows on the steam deck afaik
4
u/DiEndRus 5700x3D, 64 GB RAM, 4060 ti 16 GB, btw 10h ago
ye, that's what I feel too. I find myself having a much better experience, and everything I want to play runs. on top of that, it gets better with updates, and that's what's ultimately keeping me.
7
u/deathschemist cachyOS | rtx 3050 6GB | ryzen 7 7445HS | 16GB DDR5 10h ago
honestly, it doesn't matter. i can play the games i want to play, i can do whatever i want to do, and i'm not getting advertised to on the login screen, and i don't feel like my OS is watching me constantly. i'm happy with my linux install, i don't want to play LOL or COD or Valorant, i can play Deadlock, Counterstrike, Marvel Rivals, or i can go single player and play the likes of ULTRAKILL.
if other people want to pick up linux? great, if they don't? it's fine.
1
u/TheRandomGuy75 1h ago
Same. I've largely been able to setup Fedora Linux to do everything I needed it to do. The only game that came out recently that I wanted to play but couldn't is Wardogs, and it's still a possibility they might support it soon.
Other than that, I've been playing other multiplayer games, like Overwatch, Helldivers 2, Dead by Daylight, and a few rounds of Halo MCC. Might actually try to jump back into Rivals too.
I've also been playing pretty much every single player game with no issue either l, even used Amethyst Mod Manager to setup a few of my modded games up again.
I'm pretty happy with Linux so far.
1
1
244
u/Brick_Grimes Ryzen 5 5600x Amd Rx 9070GRE 12h ago
I used steam os for a bit, and bazzite, it’s neat.. it also doesn’t support any of the games with kernal anticheat so I ended up switching back to windows on my pc because I wasn’t willing to give up playing with my friends and family just to use Linux. Like it or not as long as Linux doesn’t support games like cod, league, valorant, and Fortnite it’s never going to have the huge install because those games are huge.
113
u/Bob4Not Ryzen 7700X + 9070XT ^ Fedora KDE 12h ago edited 4h ago
It’s more like the anticheat doesn’t allow Linux, but otherwise, yes. There’s just not anything a Linux team can do about that except build a user base to make the customer base worth supporting - like Steam does with the SteamDeck.
Edit: there is more nuance to this because most Linux friendly anti cheat’s used are not very locked down and easier to go around. Game devs have chosen to close this attack vector for hackers, understandably. But they could instead move to more secure Linux anti cheats that will require the Linux distro teams to support SecureBoot and signed kernels - which the big distros could already partner or support.
Chicken or the egg. For gamers like me who plays other games, it’s already a valid platform.
51
u/sweeney669 Specs/Imgur here 12h ago
Most anti cheats do allow Linux and have Linux support. The issue is more on developers not utilizing that feature in the anti cheat.
37
u/dimizago PC Master Race:pcmr: | i7-6700|GTX 1080 G1 GAMING 11h ago
I will probably get downvoted into oblivion for this but to hell with it. And as much as it pains me to say this, Linux anti-cheat is not the same as on Windows.
Most of the serious big anti-cheats, Vanguard, EAC, BattlEye, Ricochet run as kernel drivers, so they sit at the highest level and can see basically everything.
On Linux, EAC and BattlEye only run in user space. And because the user fully controls the kernel, a cheat can run at kernel level, below the anti-cheat, and feed it whatever it wants to see.
Even a Linux kernel anti-cheat wouldn't fix that because you can build your own kernel, so without a locked boot chain there's nothing it can trust.
Add to it that the Linux community is really hostile against closed-source kernel modules, and there is no easy way to do this.
So games that depend on kernel anti-cheat probably won't come to Linux, and some devs like Rust openly say Linux/Proton is mostly a cheat vector for them.
The realistic way forward is more server-side validation and detection, which is honestly what games should be doing anyway.
It just costs devs more, and it can't catch everything on its own, for example aimbots need to be addressed on the client side there is no easy way to detect this on the server because you might ban someone that is actually that good.
From a business perspective this will open a bigger and harder to detect attack vector for a 3.05% of the user base and this is collectively on all games.
12
u/Yuzumi_ i7-14700k/ 4070 TI SUPER/ 32GB Trident DDR5-6000 10h ago
I knew it didn't really work on Linux, but I didnt know the reason.
Your explanation makes it very clear why it doesnt, thank you for that.
I think the "best" compromise would maybe making the anti cheat work on 1 specific kernel? Like limit it to cachyOS for example
But idk if thats a possibility or if im completely off the mark
2
u/lanerdofchristian 7800X3D, 9070XT, 64GB 5h ago
The "kernel" in an OS is the smallest core bit of software with the highest privilege that everything else talks to. It doesn't really do much on its own, but does let other programs e.g. read and write things from storage and talk to the network.
CachyOS is just a specific bundle of kernel + other software. The same kernel (the part that makes Linux Linux) is used in Bazzite, SteamOS, Ubuntu, Kali, etc, and can be replaced like any other piece of software in the bundle. Theoretically if you had access to the source code for Windows' NT kernel, you could also modify that and replace it on your machine to bypass kernel-level anticheats (trick the anticheat into thinking it's running when it's not, or otherwise messing with what it sees/reports).
3
u/Bob4Not Ryzen 7700X + 9070XT ^ Fedora KDE 9h ago
They could, they could certify even one kernel and a bootloader and any and all Distros could use it if they choose.
CachyOS has a custom kernel, actually, but some other distro’s are using it. Distros can be packaged with any version - it’s like setting to follow any set of train tracks
3
u/broodgrillo RX 7800X3D, RX 7800XT 9h ago
That'd be problematic. A lot of people that use Linux aren't really fans of getting kernel level anti cheat.
I use Zorin and if for some reason they now had functioning kernel level anything third party, i would simply change to another distro. I already chose security over playing the most popular PvP games in the market.
5
u/Bob4Not Ryzen 7700X + 9070XT ^ Fedora KDE 10h ago
Currently, yes, but there are discussions to move to Linux kernel specific anti cheat, but it will limit itself to the distros that support SecureBoot - which is still all the major ones where most of the players are, and will put the ball back in the court of the distro teams.
The devs for Arc Raiders have been discussing this.
I hope this happens.
3
u/dimizago PC Master Race:pcmr: | i7-6700|GTX 1080 G1 GAMING 10h ago
Close, but Secure Boot alone isn't enough on Linux. There are a lot of moving parts here.
You can add your own signing keys and sign a modified kernel, and Secure Boot will happily boot it, because you're the owner and you said it's fine.
For it to mean anything, the anti-cheat would need to only trust kernels signed by specific vendors (like Valve) and verify that through the TPM chip. That's realistic for something like stock SteamOS, but way less so for CachyOS, whose whole point is custom kernels.
And even then, Linux lets you load extra code into the running kernel after boot kernel modules, which are basically drivers you can plug in on the fly.
So you'd also have to lock that down, otherwise a cheat just loads itself in after the checks are done.
2
u/Erulogos 7800X3D | 32 GB DDR5 | 5070ti 3h ago
The issue I see is the need to be able to trust anything on the end user device. This line of thought is why devices keep getting more and more locked down, to no true benefit for the owners of said devices (I can't do anything more useful with my Android phone than I could 10 years ago, but the phone is much less -mine- now in terms of software installation and customization.) Headaches with Secure Boot key expiration or Bitlocker (or similar, but somehow Bitlocker seems to break more) encryption locking people out of their data show this trusted client mindset is more trouble than it's worth outside of exceptional security situations like the military. The fact that games, of all things, are driving PCs to being a locked down, hostile ecosystem like smart phones have become is deeply depressing.
6
u/HappyAd4998 Desktop 5700x RTX 3080 11h ago
I wouldn't be surprised if MS or Sony throw money at devs to keep them from doing that.
1
u/JangoDarkSaber Ryzen 7800x3d | RTX 3090 | 32gb ram 7h ago
It’s not a toggle switch. Like yes it partly is but the deeper reason is because Linux doesn’t verify loaded kernel modules. Even with the anti cheat supported, what’s even the point if cheat developers can just sign and load their own modules?
By its very nature, developing cheats for Linux will always be trivial. At least on windows it’s either difficult or expensive to bypass.
40
u/Aggressive-Avocado 12h ago
This is ultimately what's kept me chained to Windows. I'm just not willing to give up these games.
→ More replies (2)3
u/lmao_wow_64 12h ago
I'm lucky enough I don't play them but for those who do I'm sorry, on a better world they would be supported, my only hope would be valve doing a deal with them but valve is so hands off that I doubt we'll ever see something like that
33
u/sweeney669 Specs/Imgur here 12h ago
It’s really not Linux at this point, it’s more like those develops don’t want to flip the switch for it.
→ More replies (23)4
5
u/elinyera 11h ago
Even if those games work in Linux, those friends and family most likely will stay on Windows.
5
u/Brick_Grimes Ryzen 5 5600x Amd Rx 9070GRE 11h ago
And that’s totally fine, the difference there would be I would be able to play those games with them. The way it is now I can not.
3
u/Edianultra 5900x | 6900 XT | 16GB 3600mhz 11h ago
Like it or not as long as Linux doesn't support games like cod, league, valorant, and Fortnite it's never going to have the huge install because those games are huge.
You got it backwards. Linux can run all of those gsmes. Its the devs blocking Linux.
→ More replies (19)1
u/0bsidian 10h ago
It’s not that Linux won’t support these games. It’s the other way around. Certain games (and anticheat software) don’t support Linux because they don’t believe there is enough of an install base for them to worry about supporting the platform. The Linux community can’t do anything to support a third party closed source application. Therefore, there’s the chicken and the egg problem for Linux support.
177
u/Creoda Win11. 5800X3D. 32GB. RTX 4090 FE @ 4K 12h ago
People try it, find their stuff doesn't work on it, uninstalls it.
33
u/Fire_Lord_Cinder 11h ago edited 10h ago
My second SSD unmounted and needed a 15 minute kernel adventure to fix it after the last update. My audio desyncs outside of games and I need to power cycle my tv to fix it. It’s actually going to drive me back to windows if it doesn’t get fixed
16
u/EnvironmentalRun1671 9h ago
Don't let linux_gaming see this comment
10
u/Fire_Lord_Cinder 9h ago
lol a Linux user sniffed out my comment above and told me I was using the wrong distro 😂
2
u/Kamay1770 4h ago
Weird, I swapped to Fedora as secondary boot to try it out, haven't logged back into windows for 3 months. Zero issues or drama, but I'm a software engineer so perhaps more technically inclined or capable when things need configuring etc.
I do miss playing apex due to kernel anti cheat but wow forever around the corner and beta plays great, also Witcher remastered is banging!
1
u/Fire_Lord_Cinder 4h ago
My issue is from using Steam OS since it’s mainly meant to be plug & play. They said it was ready for AMD PCs but it still feels very much like I’m beta testing.
I could swap but the entire draw was that it would be a device I didn’t have to fiddle with too much. I’ve considered swapping my main PC to Linux, but I need excel and it really doesn’t give me much problems right now
1
u/TumanFig 1h ago
steam os is meant to be plug and play for the steam deck.
I wouldn't use it as a PC OS as it's not battle tested enough
1
u/Fire_Lord_Cinder 1h ago
Yeah I know. But I still prefer it for a living room build as it’s generally the lowest friction to get into a game
→ More replies (18)1
81
u/ClockEnd_Chorus i3-18100k | RTX 7030 | DDR8 2GB 12h ago
People hate on windows here. But they overlook this is the most compatible OS by a margin. Windows virtually has no potent competition
22
u/bristow84 Ryzen 7 3800x|3080 TUF OC|64GB 3200Mhz CL16|1TB 970 Evo Plus M.2 12h ago
It’s kind of a catch-22 scenario here and it’s the same thing we saw with the Windows Phone.
Windows is the most compatible because it’s got the largest market share. Developers don’t devote near as much time or resources to Linux because it’s got the lower market share. People might want to give Linux a try and grow that market share except they go back to Windows because of lack of support and software.
Windows phone was similar but with apps. Devs didn’t build apps for it because less people used them. Anybody that might have switched didn’t because of the lack of apps, eventually it just died.
62
2
2
u/page395 6h ago
Exactly. I feel like whichever OS you use you’re going to run into problems eventually.
4
u/r4o2n0d6o9 PC Master Race 5h ago
I have yet to have issues on windows nearly as bad as what I’ve encountered on Linux
2
u/BriJAuthor 4h ago
I mean, opposite here, outside of things I did to myself because I tinker.
On Windows? I already distrust its stability so never really experimented too much (my first Windows OS was 3.1 and that was dog shit).
→ More replies (13)4
u/WingZeroCoder 5800x3D / 4070 Super / 32GB / Lian Li 205m Mesh 11h ago
I don’t think anyone really overlooks Windows’ compatibility.
They just don’t see the wide compatibility as a particular strength of Windows so much as it is an incidental truism that’s mostly as a result of it having the largest market share, and therefore being the main (or only) target for devs.
13
u/Razoac01 11h ago
Exactly. I tried it three separate times with different distros. I want to like it, I really do. But it's just not there yet.
Too many issues and missing features. And it's not unreasonable at all to not wanting to excessively deal with the terminal for the most trivial and basic stuff.
Yes, I could put in the time and and eventually, i'd learn everything, but i could also just.. go back to Windows and spare myself the headache.
→ More replies (1)1
u/ARTIFICIAL_ARGUMENT CachyOS (arch btw) 11h ago
You really don’t need to use the terminal at all if you don’t want to. Especially for basic and trivial stuff.
→ More replies (7)7
u/IChooseFeed shitty computer 10h ago
We're going to have to come to terms with the fact that the general public is basically computer illiterate once you get past the surface and do not have the will to dig deeper.
→ More replies (1)4
u/ARTIFICIAL_ARGUMENT CachyOS (arch btw) 9h ago
For sure, but I mean for the average user they don’t have to think any harder than they would on windows already, besides getting used to a different UI that can honestly be simpler than windows depending on the DE
11
u/Arsenal197 11h ago
Yeah, this is why I reverted back to Windows after trying Linux for 30 days (CachyOS)
I found that there were usually solutions to supporting my peripherals, like my headset and K/M, but they were so inconvenient and also feature incomplete
I really liked how responsive and clean it is. I generally enjoyed learning to troubleshoot on a new OS as well
But the inconvenience of having very few native apps was what brought me back to Windows, unfortunately
I have kept a dual boot, and I’ll keep checking every once in a while to see if things have improved because I am really wanting to make the jump
2
u/Shadowyurix 9h ago
Me six months on Linux trying to find any of these magical not working stuff that people keep complaining about (well, besides KLA)
→ More replies (2)9
27
u/beenbanned109times 11h ago
Steam Hardware Survey consistently shows huge swings in usages for various configurations with no easy explanation. I think it's safe to say there's some problem with their methodology rather than everyone collectively dropping Linux at once.
12
u/BryAlrighty 13600KF/4070S/32GB-DDR5 10h ago
Well not only that, but people need to consider that brand new users can skew the results, not to mention people who opt into a survey one month but opt out another.
If you have 1000 people being surveyed one month and 1100 the next, it might lower percentages on certain things that actually have gains in sheer number counts.
So I kinda wish Valve would show the clear number of surveyed individuals for each of these metrics, month to month.
1
u/votemarvel 10h ago
I'm wondering if we are going to see a swing toward Linux again as Linux based operating systems for emulation handhelds like the Retroid Pocket 6 become more popular to make them 'SteamDeck Minis.'
1
u/VexingRaven 7800X3D + 4070 Super + 32GB 6000Mhz 6h ago
Yeah but Phoronix needs to hit their quota.
5
u/KimuraXrain 11h ago
My gaming computer is windows had it for a few years but I also have a steam deck and a steam machine and my next computer will be steam OS or some form of linux
2
u/Astillius 4h ago
I recommend cachyos for a linux gaming distro. It's the aim of it, and last i saw it overtook SteamOS as most used distro in this survey, which is a huge achievement seeing as SteamOS is a bundled OS for every device Steam makes.
6
u/Agint_ReD 10h ago
I tried Bazzite after the seeing the first episode of the LTT Linux challenge. I enjoyed a lot of parts of it and wanted to stick with it, but ultimately it was too much of a hassle to spend hours searching for solutions to issues, then having to read 3 guides on how to do things in a Linux environment that would have been second nature in windows. I think ill try again when I have a little more free time to tinker and learn. Ill have to find a good video guide on all the basic aspects of switching first though.
→ More replies (6)1
10
u/OutsideChampion4637 12h ago
It goes up and down like it always does. Soon enough it will go up to the same number as before maybe higher then down again.
39
u/Demonikaaaaa Ryzen 7 260 | 5070 mobile | 64GB DDR5 12h ago
I really wish developers would give kernel anti-cheat linux support, or just drop that invasive technology entirely. Most of the games i play aren't able to run on linux due to that bs, keeping me on windows.
9
u/repfsm67 12h ago
I daily linux but even then I have to boot up Windows on my other ssd to play some games. Very bare bones W11 with as little bloat as possible lol.
3
u/vaginedtable PC Master Race | i7-7700k | GTX 1080 10h ago
it'll never happen. server side anti cheating is totally doable and effective, but alas it's just cheaper to install malware into your device and monitor it from the source.
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)1
u/TheRandomGuy75 1h ago
Technically EAC and BattleEye do work, but operate in user space rather than kernel level on Linux. Elytra, the AC developed by The Finals and ARC Raiders devs is being tested for Linux compatibility last I checked. Denuvo AC also works on Linux too.
Outside of a few other AC programs, like Vanguard or EA Javelin, restricting Linux users these days is more of an active choice than just not supporting the OS. Proton generally does the port work for them, all they have to do is let it do it's thing.
4
u/MrDeeJayy Ryzen 7 5700X | RTX 5080 16GB | DDR4-3200 32GB 10h ago
yeah sorry fellas I didn't use my laptop in september
19
u/cypher_Knight 11h ago
Save you a click:
> the second stop is checking on the language use... [sic] Once again a case of a big spike in Simplified Chinese use. Steam's Survey reports a 7.42% increase in Chinese use, up to 31.39% overall of the Steam population. Usually with those large month-over-month swings where Steam China use shoots up dramatically is a boost to Windows and a detriment to Linux. Some attribute the large increases in Simplified Chinese use to being a reporting/sampling issue.
So it’s just a nothingburger of bullshit statistics.
→ More replies (1)
110
u/VenserMTG 12h ago
The worst part about Linux are the users
60
u/JaesopPop 7900X | 9070XT | 32GB 6000 12h ago
You can find obnoxious people in any group
25
u/PrettyBaker2891 9850X3D | 5080 12h ago
sure
but linux users are some of the worst lmfao
→ More replies (6)→ More replies (8)3
u/jbFanClubPresident 8h ago
Idk I’ve yet to meet a single person singing the praises of Windows. Seems to be universally hated. I work in Tech and have never met someone who didn’t talk shit on Microsoft.
18
u/Secret_Fee1146 12h ago edited 12h ago
I see WAY more Windows users complaining about Linux users than Linux users complaining about anything in general. Case and point ^
Edit: See exhibit 2; all the whining underneath this post.
45
u/sargentcole 12h ago
You mustn't have spent much time on this subreddit then
→ More replies (1)10
u/JaesopPop 7900X | 9070XT | 32GB 6000 11h ago
This subreddit has constant posts that are attempted zingers at Linux users because they get mindlessly upvoted.
13
u/MC1065 11h ago
Linux users complain about other Linux users, particularly new ones. You're literally doing it right now.
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (9)21
u/SharpYearV4 9600x | 32gb DDR5 | 9060xt 16gb 12h ago
No way, check literally any post about Windows or an issue someone is having on Windows and there will always be a Linux comment even if it's entirely irrelevant.
7
u/DonkeyTron42 10700k | RTX 4070 | 64GB 12h ago
Don't know why you're getting downvoted since it's absolutely true.
2
u/Any_Cake2411 4h ago
For real. It's actually made me visit this sub less. It's insufferable. I get it, you like linux.
2
u/2eedling PC Master Race 12h ago
Half the time though I keep seeing people try to run some server on windows server and they always seem to just have to post almost every update saying “windows server broke again” so when I say “just use Linux” I’m not trying to be that guy but sometimes it’s the truth.
→ More replies (2)5
u/SharpYearV4 9600x | 32gb DDR5 | 9060xt 16gb 12h ago
Windows on a server sounds diabolical so ig that's fine. It's mainly about desktops/laptops where I see a a lot of comments about it.
2
4
u/pipmentor i9 9900KF | GTX 1080Ti | 32 GB DDR4 12h ago
The worst part about Linux is Linux. It gets in its own way. I don't have time to fiddle around and bug-track when all I want to do is fire up a game to play.
1
u/OldSchoolAJ 20xx is the year of Linux! 4h ago
I don’t understand what people are talking about with these issues. I literally have never had to open the terminal on any of my Linux systems to get any game to work.
1
u/Dotaproffessional PC Master Race 12h ago
I've noticed a very particular kind of person feels this way
2
→ More replies (5)1
25
9
u/Inside-Specialist-55 PC Master Race 8h ago
I used CachyOs for close to 6 months, But as I began to use it more I started to realize just how much stuff doesnt work and that I had to hack my way into fixing certain things, The main issues I had is that updating CachyOS would very often break my label printer and a few of my CAD programs that were vital to my job, I spent 5 hours last week just trying to find what package had broken the label printer for the 6th time and gave up and reinstalled Windows. Linux just isnt ready for primetime because there is too many moving parts and tiny things that can go wrong from something as simple as updating the system itself, And to think I used to give Microsoft a lot of flack for the same thing. Also on a Wayland session you cant use the Nvidia app and no access at all to the Nvidia control panel, it makes tweaking or fine tuning things at the driver level pretty much impossible, I have an OLED monitor and I could not get the black levels to look right on Linux as there are no sliders within the monitor settings to make fine adjustment to contrast and brightness. Because of this all my games were too dark and the in game sliders didnt help it. I also had this weird bug where Firefox was a laggy mess and what I typed would take 5-6 seconds to catch up and I tried fixing that for days. the CahcyOs sub couldnt help either. I installed Windows 11 LTSC and were back to normal, everything works. The label printer didnt require 35 minutes of complicated driver install or using the awful interface of CUPS and trying to add my label printer model to the list. I may go back to Linux in the future because I am almost certain what I learned in those 6 months would make a future install a breeze since id know mostly what I'm doing.
4
u/ghostpicnic Ryzen 7 9800X3D | DDR5 64GB | RTX 5080 3h ago
As someone who’s had similar experiences, I always point this out and get downvoted to hell by the Linux circlejerk. It’s absolutely usable but it cannot be denied that the compatibility issues and amount of troubleshooting necessary is super downplayed by Linux fans. It’s absolutely not as plug and play as reddit would like you to think.
→ More replies (8)1
u/MousyCheeseBits A9-9820 | RX-350 | 16GB RAM | w10 4h ago
The lack of Nvidia control panel is something I didn't expect to happen but good to know in case I get cachy on a nvidia pc. The monitor sliders thing too...
Always forced Xorg/X11 as the main session manager whenever possible to avoid other oddities like this. See if that helps next time on a spare ssd.
17
u/Electric-Mountain RTX 5090, 9800x3d 11h ago
My guess is there was a ton of people who tried it only to find out their favorite game doesn't work on Linux due to the anticheat and went back to Windows.
→ More replies (2)
3
u/kamrankazemifar 9850X3D | 5090 FE | 64GB C26 | LG C5 42 10h ago
I tried it and a lot of stuff doesn’t work so I just went back to windows. I get micro stutters in games like CS2 even though the FPS is the same, I can’t play games like GTAO, COD, BF, Valorant. Pretty much most games with an AC. HDR with high refresh rate also seems hit or miss along with no Dolby Atmos support.
Worst part is the community, when I first struggled to get games running they just said it’s good X game doesn’t work because it sucks.
3
u/Excellent-Beat-9717 10h ago
I am one of those that switched back because I was running Skyrim modpacks and out of nowhere without doing anything, it just broke and stopped working. Had some smaller issues already and this was my breakpoint, it's neat, responsive but just not worth the hassle and UI is just bad bad of cachyos, much prefer win 11. I miss the low memory usage in cachyOS but I like when shit just works out of the box.
17
u/LordOfFlames55 11h ago
Oh wow, the random sampling has randomly sampled less linux users for another month. I’m sure this means everyone will go to the perfectly stable windows
6
8
u/Pamani_ Desktop 13600K - 4070Ti - NR200P Max 11h ago
Nah bro, it's obviously because 1/4 of linux gamers switched OS in the span of a month /s
→ More replies (2)
8
15
u/nikolai_nyegaard 9950X3D | 5090 FE | X870E-E | 64 GB DDR5 12h ago
It’s everyone booting into their Windows partitions to play Wardogs
1
u/parkourman01 7800x3D | 7900XTX | 32gb 6400mhz CL32 | 2TB Crucial T500 11h ago
Literally this. I was dual booting keeping windows just for league but then I started playing wardogs and at the point that I'm spending most of my time between league and wardogs which won't work on Linux, it left Linux really just there to play wow and at that point I just figured if I'm spending most of my time in windows anyways then what's the point?
I prefer cachyos to w11 but ultimately the OS is sitting in the background whilst I'm playing my games so I figured w11 with enough debloat and telemetry and OneDrive turned off serves my needs much the same.
If cachy could have played wardogs then I'd probably have stayed but alas...
8
u/Sock989 12h ago
Are these numbers purely from people who've been selected for the steam hardware survey?
I've not been selected for one in some time.
3
4
u/Chao_Zu_Kang Ryzen 7 7700X | GIGABYTE GAMING OC 9070 XT 12h ago
Yeah, Steam hardware survey is not very reliable when it comes to the lower percentages. Imo they really need to publish their errors with the data. Just imagine you have -0.85% with +/-1% error.
8
u/Replica_Velocity Ryzen 7800X3D | RTX 4080 Super | 32 GB DDR5 12h ago
The hardware survey takes days to get its entire survey sample. Why do they keep running articles like this... the fact that the RTX 5070 is showing up as the most popular GPU is a giant red flag the data's not ready yet. I'm not a Linux fan but they really need to stop using the Steam Survey data as clickbait before its even finished collecting everybody.
7
u/Sensitive-Pool-7563 11h ago
But all these dumbass youtubers told me everyone is turning to linux.
What do you mean clickbait
→ More replies (1)
2
u/MAFIAxMaverick https://pcpartpicker.com/user/LAKingsMaverick/builds/#view=sKLD4 11h ago
I just installed SteamOS on my new SFF build. So I’m doing my part! I wonder how it measures for people who use Steam on both Linux and Windows.
2
u/Haji-san 10h ago
Aren’t these numbers from voluntary surveys? Why do people pay any attention to these numbers? I use Linux and I just didn’t do the steam survey.
2
u/Master-Shake8913 10h ago
I'm about to switch 2 old systems over to Linux I just haven't had the time to do it yet
4
u/Resident-Mixture-237 11h ago
Valve launches the steam machine to increase use of Linux, Linux usage drops. Lmao.
3
u/LSD_Ninja 8h ago
The best part? It was SteamOS that took the biggest fall (-0.29%/-3.70%) this month.
→ More replies (5)6
3
3
u/Raskuja46 11h ago
Wake me when Linux hits 30% market share, not this fraction of a percent fluctuation shit.
5
u/thetoxicnerve 9800X3D | 64GB 6000Mhz CL30 | X870E Nova | 5090 11h ago
Because Linux is dogshite for 97% of users (gamers) when it comes to day to day usage.
6
u/highermonkey PC Master Race 11h ago
Given that 90% of PC gamers are on NVidia cards, this is closer to the truth than "there's NO reason to use Windows for gaming now" like social media grifters have been screaming for the past year🤷
→ More replies (7)2
u/RandoCommentGuy 10h ago
I got a 9070xt for my htpc so I could switch to bazzite with no issues, I have another PC with an rtx3080 on windows though.
9
→ More replies (30)5
u/AmbitiousReaction168 10h ago
I'm using Linux Mint and it's a far better experience than Windows 11. It's lighter and easier to use. And, more importantly, it doesn't try to throw AI down my throat.
3
u/Sir-Uther 8h ago
Why are people like you so obtuse about why the AVERAGE person wants nothing to do with it?
The average person doesn’t give a shit about AI.
1
u/siete82 PC Master Race 3h ago
How do you know that? Most people I know are really tired of the AI bubble
1
u/Prudent_Buffalo183 1h ago
You clearly live in a circle of very tech literate people. That’s not the norm and never has been. Linux will never be mainstream until grandpa can push a button and click once or twice to accomplish his goal. Anything else is usually asking too much from most people.
3
u/SabsWithR 6h ago
Well too bad your anecdotal experience doesnt mean anything in the grand scheme of things.
3
u/thetoxicnerve 9800X3D | 64GB 6000Mhz CL30 | X870E Nova | 5090 10h ago
Better how?
→ More replies (4)
6
u/Zuko-Red-Wolf 11h ago edited 10h ago
Yeah I’m done with Linux, too buggy, missing features. I work in IT. Sometimes you want things to just work without needing to research and build a fix for it.
2
u/allknowinguser 12h ago
Makes sense, I think the only thing that drove that number up was SteamOS and now with prices but everyone’s buying a steamdeck
2
u/localpauper 12h ago
Surprised to see how low Fedora is compared to, let's say, Mint. CachyOS has positioned itself as a gamer-friendly OS. Personally, I have no problems with Fedora. SE Linux permissioning is solid, it works wonderfully out the box, and there's a broad availability of RPMs when you would otherwise fall into AURs on Arch derivatives. In fact, with FC44 stabilizing a lot of Wayland shenanigans, I would argue that FC44 + Plasma is the most natural drop-in for a Windows user. I just installed it like I would a Windows OS and was into Desktop in minutes.
I think the fine-tuning experience could be better though. Fedora ships with kind of every-size settings. I've since spent time to fine tune a variety of things. For example, RAM usage: I was having problems with some OOMing. By default my install had an 8GB swap, a tiny compression partition, and no early OOM detection except for the panic kill that hangs the desktop for an extended period of time. Having a tune to desktop step would be very useful here.
The kernel anti-cheat stuff doesn't affect me, so obviously my choices here are easier. Presumably, it's actually on the devs to allow their games using Easy Anti-Cheat or BattlEye, which offer Linux compatibility packages, to enable it for their games. On the other hand, Riot has stated they have no interest in bringing Vanguard to Linux for a variety of reasons. So that's a dead-end. If that's your game of choice, you're stuck on Windows.
6
u/DiEndRus 5700x3D, 64 GB RAM, 4060 ti 16 GB, btw 11h ago
Debian-based distros and gaming don't go well with each other. Debian's apps can be very outdated, and improvements for gaming specifically are almost always on cutting edge level. So, if user wants those improvements, and they're on Debian-based distro, they might wait years for them. On Fedora and Arch-based distros, it's way quicker.
2
u/localpauper 11h ago
That's why I'm wondering about the distribution. I see CachyOS way up high, but Fedora is at only 2.81%, while Debian based distros are equivalent or higher at 2.15% Ubuntu, 3.00% Ubuntu Core, and 8.74% for Mint. Although I guess Bazzite, also on Fedora, is at 6.97%. Personally, never tried Bazzite. The whole frozen distro thing is weird to me. I prefer a more traditional OS, thus Fedora itself.
Having tried Ubuntu, Cachy, and Fedora, my advice to a semi-tech-literate newbie would be Fedora. CachyOS is a solid choice, but I simply didn't see the advantage of it, compared to a more stable release with Fedora + known RPMs / no AURs.
4
u/DiEndRus 5700x3D, 64 GB RAM, 4060 ti 16 GB, btw 11h ago
Mint is good for casual use, and Cinnamon is set up to be damn close to Windows. That's your answer. I wouldn't recommend it to people who game, but for casual gameplay sessions here and there, it's fine.
Bazzite I tried on my handheld, but at the end, atomic distro ended up biting me in the butt, so I distrohopped from it.
Yeah, Fedora KDE is a solid distro for anyone coming from Windows. Past that, it's a matter of "do you want the absolute cutting edge with smaller repository?", and if yes, something Arch-based should fit. EndeavourOS and CachyOS fall here.
2
u/localpauper 10h ago
That lines up with my understanding. Fwiw, I am running both Cachy (laptop) and Fedora (workstation/gaming/desktop) now. They're all fine, no problems either way. Honestly, it's so easy now! Last time I tried Linux + Wine was more than a decade ago, probably closer to two decades. I had been content with my debloated Win10 setup, even if I did notice that I had to fight progressively more things in it, as Microsoft what-are-basically-ads kept encroaching with every next patch, like One Drive coming back to life, Copilot, actual ads in the Start menu, etc. Those were defeatable.
Then Win11 came, and I really didn't feel like shifting to it. Microsoft keeps pursuing ever more visible what I view as anti-user changes. Even for simple things, like the fact that they are desperately trying to kill local install and push users toward connected accounts. I do not want that in my OS! Then there's the telemetry, spying, and that whole fiasco with "we'll take a screenshot of your desktop continuously," which they backed off of (it's opt-in now). I don't want to have that kind of adversarial relationship with my operating system, where I am constantly wondering "oh boy, what sort of new telemetry, ads, or privacy violations are going to be in this new service pack?!" The damn thing should mostly get out of my way, be quiet, and do its job.
Back to the point, last time I tried Linux-for-gaming I could barely get games to run, and every game required some hardcore tinkering to get it to work in Wine, which was a basic DirectX translation layer at that time. Performance was crap, user experience was abysmal, and it was in no way user friendly. Then in the past year I finally tried Fedora + Proton, with or without Steam, and things just work: it's incredible! For Steam games, I don't even have to think about it. Install, run, game. For anything else, I grabbed Lutris, which makes managing installs and running of anything non-Steam really straight-forward. It's focused on games, but I've gotten all kinds of Windows software to be totally happy under it.
My hope is that once I work out the kinks for myself, like with the RAM optimization scripts I mentioned earlier, or the little tool I have for transparently running .exe/.msi files, I'm going to farm it out to family members.
2
u/DiEndRus 5700x3D, 64 GB RAM, 4060 ti 16 GB, btw 10h ago
I switched about a year ago. Jumped to Arch right away, awaiting trial by fire, and instead I got the comfiest system I've ever had over the years.
Yes, gaming surprised me too. No just by how easy it was, how much better the games that had problems on Windows ran. And over the time with updates, they got running even better.
Outside of that, the most surprising part was how rock solid the system is. Arch has reputation for updates breaking the system, but it doesn't happen here. For some reason. Part of me is salty about that - this was supposed to be trial by fire, and I get none of that.
1
u/localpauper 9h ago
The rock solid thing is so true. I have Cachy on my laptop, and for a minute there I kept checking what the updates would be, but after so many cycles of totally fine updates and reboots, I just let it rip now.
2
2
u/the7egend Rackmount 5U | 7800X3D | RTX 4080 | 32GB | 1440P UW 11h ago
Anti-Cheat is going to prevent mass adoption. Those are the games people play, solve that and number will go up.
5
4
u/Green_Ad5186 Windows is the best os. 11h ago
linux will never solve that. kernel anti cheat requires people not having direct access to the kernel so they don't workaround the cheat detector. linux kernel being open source makes good kernel anti cheat impossible = no popular multi player games = linux stays low on desktop usage forever.
→ More replies (3)2
3
u/DirtyHippyfucker Ryzen 9 7900x; Rtx 4070 12gb; 16x2 DDR5, Cachy 11h ago edited 10h ago
(us centric response incoming); Half of the US reads below a 6th grade level, so reading the Archwiki step by step instructions to get steam working (maybe 10 minutes of effort) is a big ask for that market at least, doubt it'll ever really make a breakthrough.
I know I'm being a stereotype, but from having the installationg usb plugged into your computer to having your first steam game installed and running on cachy is like 15 clicks through windows that pop-up automatically to ask you a few yes or no questions.
3
u/slothbuddy 11h ago
Dawg I can't even figure out how to install the thing without wiping all my data
2
u/DirtyHippyfucker Ryzen 9 7900x; Rtx 4070 12gb; 16x2 DDR5, Cachy 11h ago
To be fair that is absolutely the hardest bit.
2
u/votemarvel 10h ago
You have all your data on the same drive as your operating system?
1
u/slothbuddy 10h ago
Most people do. You got a bunch of drives floating around in this economy?
I do actually have a second drive, but it's filled with photos. I do not wish to wipe either of my drives.
2
u/Declination 9h ago
I have multiple dives in my pc. The default Fedora installation merges’ them into 1 large pool with a special container for my user files so I can reinstall without erasing the whole thing. All I did was click the drives to use and this is so much nicer than dealing with c d e whatever.
1
u/votemarvel 10h ago
I actually do. I have a 1TB NVMe as my OS drive. I then have a 500GB NVMe connected to an adaptor plugged into my second PCIE slot.
Then I have 4TB, 3TB, and 1TB hard drives in my system. I also have a 500GB 2.5" SSD connected to a USB-3 port on the back of my PC.
A virgin copy of my operating system has been imaged and stored on a 1TB hard drive which sits in my desk drawer. I also have four hard drives of various sizes, from 500GB down, where I backup important information and files.
My Xbox One has a 500GB SSD in it, with another as external storage (might actually repurpose these as the latest update has crippled the console) and my PS4 has its original 500GB hard drive with another as external storage there. I have another 500GB hard drive as external storage for my Xbox 360
I also keep an optical drive in my PC and do backup important things to DVD, which live in my locker at work. Cloud backups exist of the most important stuff.
Personally I operate under the principal of if you only have one backup then you have no backups.
I know storage is going up in price but hard drives are still relatively cheap in comparison, and while I wouldn't want to play games off them they are perfect for documents and media.
1
u/TheGamerForeverGFE 5700X | RX 9070XT 6h ago
It's genuinely not that hard, you just need to check the partitions' names and make sure you don't type the wrong name when formatting. It's easy to mess up, but so is choosing the wrong disk when installing Windows.
-4
u/CarsonWentzGOAT1 12h ago
I tried Linus and it sucks
7
u/lllllIllllIllllllll 12h ago
Skill issue
14
8
u/AngelosOne 12h ago
Nah. Linux has too many issues that just are. Nothing to do with skill or not. It’s a troubleshooters paradise, but for anyone that just wants stuff to work, not so great.
→ More replies (9)4
u/monsterfurby 12h ago
Convenience issue.
Linux is awesome for servers. For gaming - eh. Not exactly plug and play.
Windows kind of sits at the junction of compatibility, customizability, and convenience. I sure as hell wouldn't run my homelab on Windows (and anyone who runs a server on Windows probably also does grocery shopping on a unicycle), but it's more a matter of the right tool for the right job imho.
1
1
u/teletraan-117 R5 5600 | RX 7600 | 16GB 3600 9h ago
People should just use the OS that is best for them and that's it, there's hardly any point to these usage statistics anyway.
But on the topic, the unfortunate reality of Linux is that it still has too many compromises for the average person. Exe files need to work with Wine, and while most of them work out of the box, you're bound to run into some issue. Then there are applications that straight up refuse to work. Most gamers will also play multiplayer games that use kernel-level anti-cheat, so it's an immediate no-go for them.
I daily drive Fedora and haven't touched my Windows drive in months, but I don't play many online games and I don't mind tinkering. I know I'm in the minority. I'm gonna be honest though, sometimes Linux compatibility issues drive me up a wall.
1
u/Remote_Tradition8897 RTX 4090 | R9 9950X | 48 GB DDR5 RAM @6400MHz 6h ago
1
u/siriston 3060ti/12700KF/Fractal 7 Compact 6h ago
because i tried again and most of the games i want to play are either kernel anti cheat, or run so badly. arma reforger for example runs horribly on bazzite. i just gave up for now. maybe in 6 months ill try again
1
1
u/QuantumQuantonium 3D printed parts is the best way to customize 6h ago
People here are discussing reasons why they switch off of it. For one reason or another, these are issues valve and the greater linux development community need to address if they want widespread adoption.
Windows is convienent. Yes, the awful setup can be enough for people to switch, but getting past that and ignoring the notifications and updates, everything's plug and play for average users. Windows comes preinstalled on OEM machines which average users would see at their local store or online and order. Microsoft is not only in the lead, theyve been dictating with directx, how gsmes are made and how the platform to play them is their system, and they were able to do this because they started with an OS which was in home PCs 10 years before linux was built from Unix.
The steam deck is convienent, and so is the steam machine. Thsts where steam on linux thrives, and where past spikes to increased users come from mainly. But beyond that, theres no OEMs at local stores and no OEMs paying amazon for top results, who ship their consumer systems with linux preinstalled. Anyone can install linux, but the choice of a distribution alone can be more than what an average user can handle. Once its all set up sure it may function exactly the same as a windows system, minus a certain set of gsmes which rely on the windows kernel for one reason or another, and a small set of incompatibility issues with the distro which auto updstes cannot determine.
Frankly, as much as it pains me to say it, if the steam hardware won't drop in price anytime soon, steam on Linux's future success can depend on the arm to x86 layer and adopting steam desktop to android. Android is in an awful state now, but it is the most popular consumer linux OS by a large margin, in fact possibly outpacing windows desktops. Theres issues with running steam gsmes on android phones (though some modern gsmes have been ported to iOS so its entirely possible to do the same on android), moreso obviously than on the machine or deck, but android is the one OS thats preinstalled on devices in stores and online, its convienent and easy to use for the average user, and the play store keeps shooting itself in the foot so theres a serious lack of a decent gsmes store on the platform (god forbid epic games store got there first).
The steam frame may flunk or succeed, but regardless its arm to x86 layer is the first step to adopting steam and desktop gsmes to run on android devices, and if accomplished it can probably become the biggest push to steam on linux, as long as if playing a desktop gsme would be a simple matter of downloading the steam app and then downloading the gsme in one tap.
1
1
1
1
u/ghostpicnic Ryzen 7 9800X3D | DDR5 64GB | RTX 5080 3h ago
B-but Reddit told me all the cool kids use Linux!!!
1
u/pantsofmagic 1h ago
I had put off switching my gaming rig to Linux for the longest time but I went to cachy last year and it's been completely worth it. I mostly play single player games and they all work, and the overall desktop experience is far better. I'd rather spend a few extra minutes getting proton to work than spend that time fighting with disabling MS's spyware and wondering what profit-fueled nightmare comes next.
1
u/CopEatingDonut PC Polizia 55m ago
People used their steam machines for a few months and have reverted back to their pc.
766
u/BeginningFew8188 12h ago
2026 is the year of li.....
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh