Gaming on Linux has been steadily gaining ground among players worldwide. What was once considered a niche hobby is now a serious option for gamers.
Driven by Valve’s Proton compatibility layer, which allows thousands of Windows games to run on Linux, this free and open-source OS not only runs exclusive Windows games smoothly but often even outperforms Windows in some benchmarks. Which brings us to today’s topic.
For the first time in its history, Linux has surpassed the 3% usage mark among Steam gamers, according to Valve’s latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey for October 2025.
A year ago, Linux hitting 2% on Steam was already considered a breakthrough. Now, with over 3% of Steam users gaming on Linux, it’s clear the platform’s momentum isn’t slowing down.
As you might expect, Windows remains dominant at 94.84%, although it saw a 0.75% decline, largely due to users migrating from Windows 10 (down 3.94%) to Windows 11 (up 3.18%). macOS followed with a modest 2.11% share, while Linux now stands at 3.05%, up +0.41% from the previous month.
Among Linux distributions, Arch Linux continues to lead the pack with 1.04%, followed by Linux Mint (22.2%), Ubuntu Core (22%), and Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS, which is close behind. EndeavourOS, Fedora Linux 42, and Manjaro Linux also hold notable positions, each hovering between 0.05% and 0.1%.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that Steam Deck’s continued success also plays a key role in this trend, bringing more visibility and confidence to Linux-based gaming.
For more information, see Valve’s Steam Hardware and Software Survey for October 2025.
