Linux usage on Steam hits a record high for the second month in a row

After finally passing the three percent mark in October, Linux usage on Steam has peaked again in the November Steam Hardware & Software Survey. As of last month, Linux users accounted for 3.2 percent of all Steam users. That pales in comparison to Windows usage (94.79 percent), but it’s still a boost from October and marks a new all-time high for Linux usage on Steam.

Unsurprisingly, Valve’s own Linux distribution is the most popular, with 26.4 percent of Linux users running SteamOS Holo. Arch Linux, Linux Mint, CachyOS, Bazzite, and Ubuntu trailed behind with shares of about five to ten percent each.

Bazzite, a gaming-focused Linux distribution, saw one of the biggest boosts in users this month, along with Debian and the Flatpak version of Steam (which is displayed separately from native installations of Steam on Linux). While you can technically (try to) put Valve’s SteamOS on a custom gaming PC, Bazzite is often recommended as the best alternative to it, which might explain why it saw particularly strong growth this month. Likewise, the Flatpak version of Steam is often easier to install, so the growth there could be from a wave of new Linux users.

It’s hard to say for sure, but the two-month boost in Linux usage on Steam might have something to do with Windows 10 reaching end-of-life on October 14th. Most of those users seem to have gone to Windows 11, but it looks like at least a few switched to Linux instead. The gaming experience on Linux has improved significantly over recent years, largely thanks to the Steam Deck, which runs on a version of Linux. Valve’s Linux compatibility layer, Proton, and the popularity of the Steam Deck have helped expand game support on Linux, although anti-cheat remains an issue.