Windows 11 continues to grow among Steam users as Linux pulls back

[Redaktion]

The latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey results are here, and among all, there's an interesting shift happening in the operating system segment. In April 2026, Windows 11 saw another growth, while Linux lost a fair share of the user base.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Windows-11-continues-to-grow-among-Steam-users-as-Linux-pulls-back.1288709.0.html

[Microslop]

But how?! Everyone online says that he/she switched to linux!
Microslop was almost scared..

[Worgarthe]

But how?! Everyone online says that he/she switched to linux!
Microslop was almost scared..

Do you think that only 2.01% people in the world use MacOS? That Linux has more than twice more users of MacOS? That Windows has 93.47% users worldwide?

Steam is representative only for games so of course that Windows will dominate. Also, with all its improvements regarding WINE/Proton compatibility, to play many games on Linux you still need - Windows (in a VM). Even people on Macs need Windows to play 99%+ of games. Thus the gaming Steam data.

[Makes sense]

To me it makes sense, if we look at history, steam Linux marketshare went up with the release of the deck.

But the deck is getting really old hardware wise now and struggles with more modern games. As it result, it wouldn't surprise me if many are using it less and less or completely stopped using it for ages.

Then when you combine the fact the newer steam hardware being delayed and deck 2 not coming until 2028 or maybe even 2029 earliest.

It isn't software alone that pushes adoption. The reason why apple MacBook market share has gotten to where it is today is because they keep consistently iterating on good hardware year after year.

Valve need to update their hardware.