It finally happened. Linux gamers on Steam as of the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for October 2025 have crossed over the elusive 3% mark.

Free Windows 10 support ended for most people this past month, and the trend line of Linux usage has been quite clear leading up to this, as people prepared for the inevitable. An increase in Linux usage is also correlated to a drop in Chinese players, which did happen this month a little bit, but Linux usage is also trending up when filtering for English only. It’s worth noting that for all the official support Macs ever saw in gaming, they never represented anything better than about 5% of the market.

  • someguy3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    14 hours ago

    Yes.

    And they need to sort out the defaults to something good. 99% of basic users won’t/can’t change them.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      14 hours ago

      Sure. If you have all three options be properly configured, it shouldn’t matter too much which you pick. The point is to make it apparent that you can change stuff, if you want.

      • someguy3@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        14 hours ago

        One. Option.

        Do you know why Mac is successful? Because they have extremely few options. You basically have 3 laptops to choose from. That’s not 3 software options, that’s basically 3 hardware options.

        • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          13 hours ago

          I don’t think that’s why. I think it’s more the features that work with the iPhone that are selling Apple laptops. If you want to use iMessage or iCloud between your phone and computer, you need both to be from Apple. That, plus the better performance and battery life of the M-series is more the cause of increased market share, not the single desktop offering.

          • someguy3@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            13 hours ago

            That is exactly why they are successful, wayyyyyyy before iphones even existed. People don’t have to think about anything. I think I’m going to leave this conversation.

            • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              1·
              12 hours ago

              Looking at market share stats, macOS market share is stagnant up until 2010-2015 or so, when it jumps from 6% to 12% or so, and that’s also about when iPhone became dominant. They’re currently around 15-17%, probably because the M1 series is so much better than x86 alternatives, so if you don’t need gaming or anything, it’s a great option! That wasn’t true before the M1.

              If it’s all up to the one choice, why didn’t they take off before the 2010s? macOS has been remarkably the same since pretty much forever, unlike Windows, which changes a lot each release.