Linux enjoys a small usage uptick with Steam users, though at 2.69% it still has a long way to go to topple Windows

A lone King Penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) adult surrounded by chicks covered in brown down feathers, South Georgia Island — (Image credit: Kevin Schafer via Getty Images)

It's that time again where we look to Steam's monthly survey and all feel slightly better about our own rigs. Just for starters, I may not be able to afford the latest Nvidia card, but I can still feel a wee bit smug that neither you nor I fall into the 37% of Steam users still rocking Windows 10, right? …Right?

Operating systems that are about to become an unsupported vintage aside, the real story from the May edition of Steam's hardware and software survey is that there's been a slight uptick in folks moving to Linux—by about 0.42%.

Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS installed showing an update screen — (Image credit: Future)

On the hardware team, our Jacob recently got SteamOS running on his Legion Go S and hasn't looked back. However, as he notes in his feature, we've enjoyed less success getting SteamOS to run on other devices with similar internals, like the Framework 13 Strix Point laptop.

While still doable, it hasn't been all that functional in Dave's recent experience. Dave has, however, managed to get a SteamOS laptop up and running using the Framework's older 7840U mainboard.

Though 2.69% is a bit of a high as far as OS share goes, I'm not going to pretend this is Linux's tipping point. Besides the fact that Windows still enjoys a whopping 95.45% total share of the OS pie in Steam's May survey, Valve's ultimate ambitions for SteamOS aren't really about replacing Windows.

Still, if you've got a third-party handheld gaming PC, you can try your own hand at installing SteamOS using Steam's own handy guide. Alternatively, you could attempt to install Windows on your Steam Deck, though our Dave would likely judge you for it.

It's worth noting that the Steam survey is a little, let's just say, all over the place. It's a good tool for a general idea of trends, but view the results with a pinch of salt. For example, I doubt there's been a sudden wave of new, dual-core CPUs coming online in the past month, but lo and behold, Steam registers a 0.12% uptick.

Linux usage around the 2% mark does at least appear to be a fairly reliable stat month-to-month: Linux usage was at 2.27% in April, slightly down on the 2.33% noted in March, but broadly above the 1.55% of users registered in February.

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Jess has been writing about games for over ten years, spending the last seven working on print publications PLAY and Official PlayStation Magazine. When she’s not writing about all things hardware here, she’s getting cosy with a horror classic, ranting about a cult hit to a captive audience, or tinkering with some tabletop nonsense.

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