65% more people are gaming on Linux compared to a year ago, and it's not just Steam Deck users

If you play Steam games, there's a 95% chance you use Windows. That's not a random number: that's according to Steam's monthly hardware survey. Valve goes deep into the data every month, providing us with stats and graphs about everything from the GPUs players are using, to the most popular VR headset plugged in at any one time. By comparing the results to those of previous years, we can spot growing trends, and it seems like Linux is gaining popularity at a rapid rate.

Linux, the operating system created by Linus Torvalds, is gaining popularity as more people seek alternatives to Microsoft Windows. Whether they're annoyed by constant Windows updates necessary to play the latest fantasy game, the fact that they're forced to engage with Copilot AI, or any of the other myriad reasons people are migrating, Linux is picking up steam for gamers (pun very much intended).

According to the survey, 3.38% of Steam users use a Linux operating system. While this seems like a drop in the ocean, it's a 64% increase from this time last year, when 2.06% of players were using the OS. Looking back even further, the January 2024 stats show that just 1.95% of Steam users were using Linux then, and in February 2023 that number was 1.27% (the Wayback Machine had not crawled the page for the January 2023 survey, so that data was unavailable for comparison).

You might point to the Steam Deck as the reason for this uptick, but that's not strictly true. Last year, 34.93% of Linux Steam users were using SteamOS, whereas this year that percentage is just 24.79%. While that does show that slightly more players are using their Steam Decks overall (0.72% of players in 2025 versus 0.83% in 2026), nearly all new Linux users are using it on traditional PCs, or at least non-Steam Decks.

Should you be switching to Linux? That depends. The operating system can be less intuitive than Windows, and there's always a learning curve when switching software, especially when it's something that you may have known all your life. However, once you get the hang of things, Linux is completely customizable, more cost-effective, and open-source.

Crucially, though, many games (and other apps) don't work on Linux, due to them using anti-cheat software that only works on Windows. So, if you're an avid Apexer, for instance, Windows is your only option right now. For more of an insight into what else has changed in the latest Steam survey, check it out in full here.

Steam is improving its support for Linux machines thanks to the Steam Deck's native operating system, and the forthcoming Steam Machine will also run SteamOS. This only provides more advantages for Linux gamers, as Valve has a vested interest in helping more games perform on Linux from here on out.