Steam Survey Reveals Gaming On Linux Is More Popular Than Ever

Marking a major win for Linux gaming initiatives, Steam's latest hardware survey has revealed that Linux adoption on the platform has finally risen to and above 3%, three years and six months after the launch of the original Steam Deck LCD.

As one would expect, the majority of this adoption is in the form of SteamOS, which now comprises 27% of Steam's Linux users. Just behind it is Arch Linux at 10.32%, and Linux Mint (versions 22.2 and 22.1) comprising a combined 9.21%. Other assorted distributions are also being used by Steam users, but most interesting to our eye is the 4.24% adoption of SteamOS derivative Bazzite. Linux distributions outside of the top 15 on the official page make up 18.04%. The most surprising thing about this is how much more successful Arch Linux and Linux Mint are proving to be on Steam compared to Ubuntu, which is typically seen as the most mainstream Linux distribution.

So, times have certainly changed for Linux gaming. What was once viewed as a sub-optimal headache for gamers everywhere has now become a surprisingly favored option for gaming-focused users who either can't or simply won't use Windows 11 for their PC gaming experience.

For low-power PC handhelds like Steam Deck, SteamOS has consistently shown itself capable of providing equivalent or greater gaming performance than Windows 11 despite relying on the Proton compatibility layer, which pushes Linux as a more attractive option to gamers than ever.

Not all is perfect in the world of Linux gaming, of course—limited anti-cheat support and just plain compatibility issues still mean that Windows is the leading PC gaming platform, and likely will be for some time, per Valve's own Steam hardware survey results for October 2025. But unlike in past years, there are now real performance boons for specific games and devices to be playing on Linux, instead—and as Windows gets more bloated, that appeal becomes clearer.