Steam On Linux Use Back Above 4% In July

Valve just published the Steam Survey results for July 2026, reports Phoronix, "and they point to a small uptick in Linux gaming use." Back in March Steam on Linux hit a record high of 5.33%, dropped to 4.52% in April, landed at 3.99% in May, and then in June was at 3.69%. The just-published numbers for July put Steam on Linux use at 4.01%, as an improvement over the prior two months but still well off the percentage highs of March and April...

The July data puts SteamOS Holo as powering around 22% of Steam on Linux gaming systems. That's also with the Steam Machine now shipping, in addition to the Steam Deck.

Reality check

[Luckyo]

Margin of error is probably in the realm of 1-2%. This is no meaningful change in user base month to month. You're seeing fluctuations that are within the error margin.

Don't take the clickbait.

Re:Reality check

[bill_mcgonigle]

Agree, but finals are over and many teens and college kids are the ones running linux.

"Windows is for Boomers" they say.

It's at least plausible that usage dipped as the end-of-year school workload spiked.

Correlation thought of the day

[thegarbz]

These months correlate quite heavily with holidays, and also correlate quite heavily with the only time I use my Steam Deck. I just stepped off a flight from Jakarta. 3 weeks ago I fired up my Steam Deck for the first time since April, charged the battery, updated Steam, updated the games and synced save files for my trip. I did the same thing in March, and in December.

March, July, ... also we ran a story on the all time high being in December: https://linux.slashdot.org/sto... [slashdot.org] This shows a really strong c

I love Linux

[ScooterBill]

There was a time where I played my games on Windows and did my work on Ubuntu.
I considered Ubuntu more finicky, more trouble than Windows.
I was wrong. Linux is stable and easy to work with, Steam runs just fine.
Windows, has become a bloated monster that takes 3 full reboots to update.
Long live Linux!