According to these new numbers from Valve, the Linux customer base is up to 1.96%, or a 0.52% jump over June! That’s a huge jump with normally just moving 0.1% or so in either direction most months… It’s also near an all-time high on a percentage basis going back to the early days of Steam on Linux when it had around a 2% marketshare but at that time the Steam customer size in absolute numbers was much smaller a decade ago than it is now. So if the percentage numbers are accurate, this is likely the largest in absolute terms that the Linux gaming marketshare has ever been.

Data from Valve: https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam?platform=combined

    • Cyv_@kbin.social
      44·
      1 year ago

      I really hope they release Steam OS for everyone soon. I’d love to install it on my laptop, currently running ChimeraOS which is functionally very similar, but would love to have the stuff like tdp control working in the overlays too without needing third party tools or workarounds.

    • crow@beehaw.orgEnglish
      27·
      1 year ago

      They’ve done such amazing work for Linux. Linux gaming wouldn’t be the same without them.

    • NormalC@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      20·
      1 year ago

      Now we just need an open source steam client and they will be the literal proof that companies can contribute to GNU/Linux and still stay on top.

      • AnonTwo@kbin.social
        7·
        1 year ago

        Too young for what? I’m older than the company is and I don’t recall any devilish controversies.

      • True Blue@lemmy.comfysnug.space
        2·
        1 year ago

        Are you getting them confused with another company? Valve’s done bad things in the past of course, but they’re still a lot better than most other gaming companies that I know of. I typically put Valve alongside companies like Capcom and Sega as “one of the not bad ones” in terms of malicious practices.

          • True Blue@lemmy.comfysnug.space
            3·
            1 year ago

            I understand and that was one of the things I was thinking of when I said “Valve’s done bad things in the past of course”. But when you compare them to many other AAA publishers, I don’t see how Valve is particularly bad. Especially when you start bringing up lootboxes. Unlike many other publishes that go these same bad practices, and at a larger scale at that, value has done some good too, and is generally much more permissive about things like fanworks, and that does a lot to build good will. I don’t see what’s “short memory” about this.

            And I’m not even saying that I love valve or anything either, but the devil? Compared to other publishers?

    • zer0@thelemmy.club
      934·
      1 year ago

      So awesome they run a monopoly on videogames through their useless closed source spyware.

      • miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml
        241·
        1 year ago

        Well, their position is what allowed them to do so much for Linux. And their desire to distance themselves from Microsoft, which I’m absolutely on board with.

          • miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml
            13·
            1 year ago

            Of course they did it because it benefits themselves. But it doesn’t only benefit themselves, which is more than you can say about many others.

        • zer0@thelemmy.club
          416·
          1 year ago

          The only desire they have for is money, this is the same company that doesn’t mind promoting gambling to kids. Their stupid ass closed source launcher that shouldn’t exist needed to run software is a million light years away from what Linux stand for

          • miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml
            12·
            1 year ago

            There are other colours than black and white, you know?

            I fully agree that Valve has their share of issues. There’s things I too don’t like about them, but that doesn’t mean the good they do is worthless.

              • Zetta@mander.xyz
                11·
                1 year ago

                “This program is spyware because it collects huge amounts of user information, including but not limited to your Home Address, Telephone Number, Credit Card Number, and Internet Search History. Steam also profiles your hardware, communications through Steam’s social networking features, and contains a mandatory self-updater. Steam will not work without an internet connection.”

                Seems like they need to collect your address, telephone, and credit card number to process payments? Steam is it’s own internet browser, so the browser data it collects is from itself, not your personal browser.

                You seem paranoid and this website seems to be incorrect or purposely stating things in a misleading way, oh and steam does work without and Internet connection

                • zer0@thelemmy.club
                  17·
                  1 year ago

                  Steam shares your informations with third parties. Zetta you don’t seem to mind much so why don’t you tell us your real name, give us your home address, your telephone number and post a log or your search history? Don’t tell me you are paranoid

              • miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml
                6·
                1 year ago

                Did I ever say that I like how much data they collect? No.

                That is absolutely one of the things I greatly dislike.

      • lukini@beehaw.org
        8·
        1 year ago

        It’s not useless. None of the launchers are. I greatly appreciate the auto updating of games, earning achievements, among others things. Sure they have issues, but they would have been dethroned years ago if people didn’t like their software compared to companies like Epic.