Linux users surge on Steam, doubling in a year

Slowly but surely, Linux is gaining a foothold in PC gaming. According to the March 2026 Steam hardware survey, 5.3 percent of users are on some flavor of Linux, compared to 92.3 percent on Windows and just 2.4 percent on macOS. One year ago, Linux was at just 2.3 percent.

The most common Linux variation is, unsurprisingly, SteamOS, the operating system Valve created more than a decade ago and now uses for the Steam Deck handheld. SteamOS is also available for other AMD-based handheld gaming PCs...