Linux Gaming on Steam Finally Breaks 3% in October 2025 Survey
- Sagar Mankar
- 3d
- 1 min read
Linux gaming on Steam has finally crossed the 3% milestone, according to the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for October 2025.
Linux sits at 3.05%, up by 0.41% from the previous month. Windows still dominates with 94.84% (down 0.75%), while macOS holds 2.11% (up 0.34%).
On paper, 3% might not sound like much, but when you consider Steam’s massive user base, that translates to millions of players. Even using Valve’s last official active user count from 2022, Linux gamers would number well over 4 million today and likely more, given the growth of Steam and the success of the Steam Deck.
The distribution breakdown shows how diverse Linux gaming has become. SteamOS Holo leads with 27.18%, followed by Arch Linux at 10.32%. Interestingly, Linux Mint 22.2 surged to 6.65%, while newer entries like Bazzite and Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS also made notable gains. Meanwhile, CachyOS and Ubuntu Core 22 continue to carve out their share, showing that players are experimenting with a wide range of distros.
It’s no surprise that the Steam Deck is driving much of this growth. With SteamOS Linux powering the handheld and the device consistently ranking in Steam’s global top sellers, Linux adoption has been getting a huge push. Proton’s compatibility layer has also played a major role, making it easier than ever for players to run Windows titles on Linux.
Looking ahead, the rumored Steam Frame VR kit, which is expected to run on SteamOS Linux, could push these numbers even higher.