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Steam On Linux Use Skyrocketed In March - More Than Double The macOS Gaming Marketshare (www.phoronix.com)
submitted 3 days ago by herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[-] Deestan@lemmy.world 68 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I mean yeah? As a PC gamer what are you supposed to use? Fucking... Windows?

I know some people still manage to tolerate paying Microsoft for an operating system that serves popup ads, popunder ads, inline ads, bundles spyware, bundles adware, bundles malware, and literally spies on you. They either manage to filter all that out or tolerate having to spend time turning it off or mitigating it every two weeks/months when an update introduces more of it.

They angrily cope. They say things like "what is so hard about just clicking Close / Ignore on a few buttons!?" when this is pointed out. But they grow fewer and fewer.

Macs are mostly valid but expensive. If work doesn't pay for one, or you have another big hobby that makes Mac a necessity, buying one for gaming is a bit silly.

[-] Zagorath@quokk.au 11 points 3 days ago

paying Microsoft for an operating system

To be fair, I haven't paid Microsoft for my OS...ever. And it's not even piracy.

I got a licence for free through my university when I was in uni. And Microsoft seemed happy to let me keep using it and even upgrading it. I started on Windows 8, upgraded for free to Windows 10. If my PC didn't have a processor that seemingly arbitrarily they decided can't run Windows 11, I could be on that today.

[-] klay1@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

you did pay with your usage data.

[-] Railcar8095@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Same. Got XP and Vista from the university, license for Vista allowed to update to 7, 10 (never used 8)... Now I use LTSC + massgrave activation, but technically I have a 10 license.

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[-] Buffalox@lemmy.world 60 points 3 days ago

Linux passing 5% is a major milestone, good to see Linux thrive. 👍 😎

Part of the jump at least appears to be explained by Valve correcting again the Steam China numbers

I wonder why there needs to be special correction for China, but I'm guessing it's about some sort of bots probably farm bots.
If anyone knows more please share your knowledge.

[-] cynar@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

A bit of a guess, but it might be related to software cafés. They are a lot more common in the east.

Since multiple people can log into the same computer, it might over count them. They are also likely exclusively windows machines.

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[-] MousePotatoDoesStuff@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

I am doing my part!

(arch btw :P)

[-] herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago

show fastfetch or get out da here! 😂

[-] httperror418@lemmy.world 34 points 3 days ago

I did my part 👌

[-] Lanske@lemmy.world 24 points 3 days ago

I'm in there!

[-] knobbysideup@sh.itjust.works 15 points 3 days ago

I'm doing my part

[-] aliser@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Linux gaming is pretty good, glad to see it rise. software like Heroic launcher exists and allows to launch non steam games as well as other launchers. it's pretty good. even pirated windows games work just fine

[-] FireWire400@lemmy.world 9 points 3 days ago

I'm typing this on a M1 Pro McBook right now and let me tell you, from all of my Steam games maybe 10% are compatible with macOS/Apple Silicon. I tried Crossover and it kinda sucks.

It's a shame really when you consider that Apple once had a better gaming scene than Windows/MS DOS, but it clearly hadn't been a focus for Apple for a long time until maybe 2 or so years ago.

But yeah, gaming on Linux is awesome and is gonna get even better with stuff like Wine 11 eventually coming to Proton.

[-] vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 days ago

I tried Crossover and it kinda sucks.

WDYM? It's Wine like Wine. With a GUI similar to PlayOnLinux and such.

I suspect Steam lacking Proton is the main reason you don't like it. That's easy to get used to, yes.

That might be, eh, sort of a business agreement between Valve and Codeweavers, the latter play a significant role in upstream Wine's development after all. And Crossover is their paid product.

[-] FireWire400@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I don't like it because it takes forever to set everything up and in the end you still get errors, or at least I did.

Wine kinda sucks for that exact reason, IMO, if you get it right it works really well but until then it's a troubleshooting nightmare. Maybe Proton made me a bit too lazy.

[-] vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 days ago

Me too, but that's up to Valve. If they don't want it under macOS, then they don't.

The possible agreement aside, there might also be cartel pressure upon Valve to not do this. Apple was making their jump from x86_64 to ARM on Macs about the same time as Proton was appearing in Steam. Perhaps Proton for Linux doesn't result in pressure, while Proton for macOS would.

In theory they could put out a paid compatibility tool in their marketplace, with Codeweavers getting a cut. Valve, I mean. If that were a problem with not hurting Codeweavers' business. Mac users are known to be tolerant to paying for software.

[-] rabber@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 days ago

Gaming on Mac is infuriating. I brought my MacBook air to my parents last time thinking I could use it to play left 4 dead with mom. Which used to run at 120 fps. Now it doesn't run at all. Lol

[-] favoredponcho@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

That's because l4d runs on x86 and new macs are arm chips.

[-] rabber@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 days ago

It used to run on this arm chip though. They killed 32 bit support is the problem.

[-] blackbeans@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

Also important that Mac primarily supports their own proprietary graphics api, while other platforms support open standards like Opengl and Vulkan. Which makes coding games for Apple a pain few are willing to endure.

[-] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

The games that WORK run incredibly on my M4 MacBook Air… the 15-20% of my Steam collection. D: ah well, that’s not what it’s for anyway.

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[-] warbosstodd@piefed.social 14 points 3 days ago

I have a Legion Go and I wiped Windows 11 off the damned thing so fast and installed Bazzite.

You have to wonder what these numbers will look like in about 6 months after the Neo’s well received release.

[-] sen@lemmy.zip 8 points 3 days ago

I feel like I'm part of the minority when I say I'm highly excited for things like M5, APUs, smaller power efficient machines that barely draw power while doing boring work tasks yet can handle proper gaming loads (waiting for the last part still).

As soon as one of these checks all my boxes I'm selling my massive PC for it.

[-] warbosstodd@piefed.social 4 points 3 days ago

Oh I’m right there with you. My machines are a Legion Go, an M2 Mac mini and a MacBook Pro m1. What CPUs are starting to do with such a minute amount of power is amazing.

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[-] IratePirate@feddit.org 17 points 3 days ago

Yup, sorry guys, that was me.

[-] PabloSexcrowbar@piefed.social 7 points 3 days ago

Holy shit, you're the John Linux?

[-] IratePirate@feddit.org 9 points 3 days ago

That very same, yup. You might know my song:

"Imagine all the people /
Living life in shells."

[-] tehn00bi@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago

I’m glad back a few years ago I planned my PC for Linux. AMD everything. It’s been a mostly smooth operation.

[-] realitista@lemmus.org 12 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Beating Mac in gaming is like beating Glass Joe in Punch Out!!

[-] addie@feddit.uk 15 points 3 days ago

Ah, but no-one would question Mac support when you're developing new software. If you can support Mac, which is certified UNIX, then the jump to supporting Linux isn't all that much extra, and we can prove there's a growing install base.

Started the ball rolling, and it just keeps going faster.

[-] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

Games rely on more than just the OS API and even variation between Linux flavours or installed libraries on the same flavours can make compatibility difficult. My success rate at running games with a Linux native version is maybe 50% before I fall back to proton and the windows version. The consistency helps, though kudos to the developers who put in the effort to get their games working on Linux in general rather than just their particular systems.

The gpu library is a big one. There's OpenGL, DirectX, and Vulkan (which is the successor to OpenGL) that I know of. Linux and windows support all three, in some form or manner, but afaik mac only supports OpenGL, which really holds back game development, especially with DX being the most popularly targeted one.

Though my info might be a bit dated because I dgaf about macs generally, just wanted to point out that the shared roots between mac and Linux don't necessarily mean targeting one would make targeting the other easier in a meaningful way.

Maybe one day they'll sell a dongle to play games (which is really just a live boot linux install).

[-] realitista@lemmus.org 5 points 3 days ago

Oh definitely. Linux should definitely be targeted before macs because people who are on it I'm sure play more games. But again not a high bar as a lot of games never get Mac versions either.

[-] Zagorath@quokk.au 5 points 3 days ago

A decade ago things were looking really positive for the future of Mac gaming. It felt like more and more games were coming out supporting it. I'm not sure if their transition away from Intel has hindered it, or if it's something else, but it definitely seems to have stalled.

Plus, the move to Apple Silicon has killed the back-up option of Bootcamp. Or I assume it has, I've not been a Mac user since before the transition, when my ageing MBP died and I just found I didn't need any laptop to replace it.

[-] realitista@lemmus.org 5 points 3 days ago

It's simple, Apple has never cared about gaming except for that 1 year you are talking about. They've done fuck all to get developers to target mac and it shows.

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[-] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

I have every OS and tons of computers. I used my m4 MacBook Air when I went to the hospital because the battery life is eternal and the speakers are uncomfortably good for something so small. I did play some games on it, and they ran incredibly for such a crazy small machine.

Alas.. the library that worked… SO SMALL! So many games are Windows/Linux only. I’d love to see that change, but luckily for me, that’s the only time I ever cared to try games on my MacBook.

[-] realitista@lemmus.org 2 points 2 days ago

I've owned a lot of macs over the last 30 years, but I don't think Ive tried more than once to game on them.

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this post was submitted on 02 Apr 2026
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