Steam's October 2025 hardware survey shows Linux reaching 3.05% market share among users, a first-time milestone driven by the Steam Deck. Windows share fell to 94.84%, while macOS rose slightly to 2.11%. The growth highlights increasing adoption of Linux-based systems in PC gaming.
The latest Steam Hardware and Software Survey for October 2025 marks a significant achievement for Linux in gaming. Linux user share increased by 0.41% to 3.05%, surpassing the 3% threshold for the first time, according to data from multiple reports. This rise contrasts with Windows, which dropped 0.75 percentage points to 94.84%, and macOS, which gained 0.34% to reach 2.11%.
The primary driver appears to be Valve's Steam Deck handheld, which runs SteamOS Holo, a Linux-based operating system. SteamOS Holo accounts for 27.18% of all Linux users on Steam, meaning roughly one in every 125 Steam users accesses the platform via a Steam Deck. Other distributions show fragmentation: Arch Linux holds about 10.32%, Linux Mint 22.2 at 6.65%, and CachyOS at 6.01%. Bazzite, an open-source alternative to SteamOS popular on devices like the ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go, is also gaining traction. Nearly one in five Linux users falls into an 'other' category of lesser-known distributions.
This trend coincides with the end of full support for Windows 10 in October 2025, now limited to security updates. Despite this, nearly a third of Steam users—around 30%—continue using Windows 10, with Nvidia providing Game Ready Driver support until October 2026. Windows 11 adoption is growing but hampered by higher hardware requirements.
Estimates suggest Linux's Steam user base exceeds 4 million, potentially reaching 4 to 6 million when factoring in Steam Deck sales since 2022. Valve has not updated monthly active user figures since then. The survey underscores Linux's viability in gaming, aided by compatibility layers like Proton, which enable most PC games to run on the platform. As Michael Crider of PCWorld noted, 'Linux is gaining new users... almost as fast as Windows is losing them.'
