Steam on Linux use in March hit an all-time high of around 5.33% marketshare. Since then it pulled back to around 4% while for September 2026 the Steam Survey results are now in and it’s clocking in just above 3%.

The Steam Survey results for September that were published this evening indicate a rather steep decline of 0.85%, down to 3.05%. Meanwhile macOS is at 1.92% and Microsoft Windows at 95%.

As with most months where Steam Survey indicates an abnormally large decline for Linux use, the second stop is checking on the language use… 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.

When diving into the Steam Linux data exclusively, CachyOS has spiked by another 2.65% to now account for 18.12% of the sampled Linux gaming population. That even outperforms SteamOS Holo coming in at 17.37%.

Among Linux gamers on Steam, AMD CPUs still account for the high 60 percentage space thanks to the Steam Deck and Steam Machine using AMD APUs and their open-source/Linux support being popular with enthusiasts.

Those wanting to dive in to all the Steam Survey stats for September can find the fresh data on SteamPowered.com.

  • Majestic@lemmy.ml
    21·
    1 day ago

    I even ensured I refused survey data on my Windows machine but that it ran on my Linux machine to help game the numbers as I’m sure other Linux users do.

    I’m convinced Microsoft would have to mandate sticking a probe up your ass when creating a user account/setting up a computer before significant switching among average users would take place and even then a huge 50% of the population would say it’s not that big a deal and switching is a larger hassle and they have no choice, blah, blah.

    Linux is kind of still stuck in the doldrums of tech and privacy enthusiasts and a few of their friends and I’m just not sure what if anything can change that in terms of individual actions and markets. Now sure if China or the EU made it harder to sell Windows computers and really pushed people onto a version of Linux that could bump the numbers but in both cases they’re just trying to gain some sovereignty by putting government systems on Linux and that transition alone will probably run for a good part of a decade.

    • AnimalsDream@slrpnk.netEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      Literally just defaults. The average person does not care what their operating system is, and will just run whatever is already on their computer.