Steam on Linux use in March hit an all-time high of around 5.33% marketshare. Since then it pulled back to around 4% while for September 2026 the Steam Survey results are now in and it’s clocking in just above 3%.

The Steam Survey results for September that were published this evening indicate a rather steep decline of 0.85%, down to 3.05%. Meanwhile macOS is at 1.92% and Microsoft Windows at 95%.

As with most months where Steam Survey indicates an abnormally large decline for Linux use, the second stop is checking on the language use… Once again a case of a big spike in Simplified Chinese use. Steam’s Survey reports a 7.42% increase in Chinese use, up to 31.39% overall of the Steam population. Usually with those large month-over-month swings where Steam China use shoots up dramatically is a boost to Windows and a detriment to Linux. Some attribute the large increases in Simplified Chinese use to being a reporting/sampling issue.

When diving into the Steam Linux data exclusively, CachyOS has spiked by another 2.65% to now account for 18.12% of the sampled Linux gaming population. That even outperforms SteamOS Holo coming in at 17.37%.

Among Linux gamers on Steam, AMD CPUs still account for the high 60 percentage space thanks to the Steam Deck and Steam Machine using AMD APUs and their open-source/Linux support being popular with enthusiasts.

Those wanting to dive in to all the Steam Survey stats for September can find the fresh data on SteamPowered.com.

  • yxc999@lemmy.ml
    2·
    6 hours ago

    I still don’t get why I can’t opt in to participate in the survey every month, I’ve only been asked twice in the last three years on Arch

    • aim_at_me@lemmy.nzEnglish
      15·
      6 hours ago

      Because thats not how good stats works. They want random samples to draw actual stats from.

      Volunteering ruins the point.

      • yxc999@lemmy.ml
        1·
        4 hours ago

        Yeah, you have a point, but still, twice in three years? I don’t know how representative it really is, ESPECIALLY when you see 50-100% ups and downs in the Linux user base. 5 to 3 percent and back cannot be the actual stat, that has to be unreliable selection of users.

        • Aatube@piefed.socialEnglish
          1·
          1 hour ago

          steam has at least 130 million monthly active users

          a margin of error of 1% (resulting in a range of 3–5%) is very, very good