this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2026
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Steam

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Steam is a video game digital distribution service by Valve.

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Useful tools:
SteamDB
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Issue tracker for Linux version of Steam

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Source: https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

Here is a complete expanded screenshot with all data (1.7MiB): https://imgur.com/a/SqKUZ3l

Also I was curious why the list of Linux distros is unsorted, when switching to Linux only:

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[–] AnarchistArtificer@lemmy.world 4 points 18 hours ago

~2026~ 2027 will be the year of the Linux desktop baybeeee!!!!

[–] Contramuffin@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago (3 children)

There's a spike in Simplified Chinese this month, which implies that we're probably seeing another temporary dip

[–] Die4Ever@retrolemmy.com 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

yea seems to be

English stayed at exactly 8.42% (green line)

Source: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/steam-tracker/

[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 2 points 14 hours ago

It's bonkers that English Linux marketshare is >8%

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago

China government wants to switch to Linux. While this has no direct impact on gaming, I can see a future where China more and more bans public services to depend on Windows.

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Is there any truth to the theory that numbers are skewed by internet cafes being popular in China? I'd think the easiest explanation is that people use Windows more over there, or at least people who use Steam do.

[–] Contramuffin@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Not at all sure if it's true. But based purely on observational data, spikes in simplified Chinese tend to be short-lived and tend to occur right when windows percentage spikes temporarily. Internet cafes using Windows certainly would be a valid explanation to the observations.

To be clear, it's probably also true that people in China likely use Windows more. But that only partially explains our observations. Namely it doesn't explain why these spikes are temporary and tend to only last 1 month. More likely, these spikes are caused by a singular event (or a small handful of events) that skew the data heavily when it happens. For instance, if a large number of people all log in to Steam on a computer that they don't typically use, that could lead to the data that we see. Internet cafes would be consistent with this model, but we can imagine that other hypotheses may also produce similar results

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Maybe the short time Chinas firewall manage to leak a bit of telemtry data?

[–] EnsignWashout@startrek.website 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Does anyone have their Steam Holo yet? Or could that drop just be all of the Valve staff taking a break from their game testing?

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

SteamOS Holo is also used in Steam Deck (and all others who install SteamOS). Holo is just the codename for it. Same as the one in the Steam Machine.

[–] EnsignWashout@startrek.website 2 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

Thanks.

Thats makes me wonder if the dip there is natural wear and tear taking SteamDecks out of play, and folks not replacing them because there were none in stock for awhile this summer.

[–] thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 4 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

When you look at "Nobara Linux 44", it got +1.66% change to a current value of 1.66%. We can conclude this is a new entry that they didn't track before? Plus other distributions are often used to install when leaving Windows, as it is hot topic right now, if you look at YouTube. People build all the different alternatives to the Steam Machine. So rather than less people playing on the Deck, I think there is a bigger growth on other distributions than SteamOS grows right now. Just my speculation.

[–] EnsignWashout@startrek.website 2 points 16 hours ago

Makes sense. Building a home 'steam machine' alternative for my home TV has been on my own todo list for awhile. (Unless I can get my hands om the real deal before I get around to it, I suppose.)

[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 2 points 19 hours ago

Doubt it. English-only Linux marketshare has stayed constant this month, while Chinese Windows marketshare spiked