Microsoft Gains Time in SteamOS Fight Thanks to RAMpocalypse
▼ Summary
– Valve’s SteamOS has made a small but notable dent in Windows’ dominance in PC gaming, with Windows’ share on Steam dropping from over 96% five years ago to just over 92%.
– Linux’s share on Steam has climbed from under 1% in April 2021 to over 5% now, though SteamOS itself accounts for only about 0.33% of that.
– Valve succeeded by making Windows games run on Linux through Proton, rather than pushing for native Linux game ports.
– This organic approach contrasts with Valve’s failed attempt in the early 2010s to directly challenge Windows with Steam Machines and SteamOS.
Valve and its SteamOS platform have quietly accomplished something that even Apple and numerous other challengers have failed to do over the decades: they are finally eating into Windows’ stranglehold on PC gaming. While Microsoft still commands the lion’s share of the market, the trend lines are shifting in a way that has never happened before.
According to Valve’s own Steam Hardware Survey, Windows still runs on more than 92 percent of gaming PCs. That sounds dominant, and it is. But the real story lies in the historical comparison. Five years ago, that figure was just over 96 percent. Ten years ago, it was just under 96 percent. Fifteen years ago, it was also 96 percent. Go back further, and Steam itself only existed on Windows, which only underscores how entrenched Microsoft has been.
Now, between April 2021 and today, Linux’s share has jumped from less than 1 percent to more than 5 percent. That might seem small, and not all of that is SteamOS. Valve’s operating system isn’t broken out separately, but Arch Linux, the base distribution for SteamOS, accounts for roughly 0.33 percent of that total. Still, the movement itself is historic. For decades, those numbers barely budged.
The key difference this time is strategy. Instead of begging game developers to create native Linux ports, Valve focused on making Windows games run on Linux through its Proton compatibility layer. This approach has spread through organic, word-of-mouth success, in stark contrast to the company’s failed push in the early 2010s, when it tried to take on Windows directly with Steam Machines and a living room vision that ultimately went nowhere.
Yet Microsoft may have just caught a break. The ongoing RAMpocalypse , a global shortage and price surge in memory components , is buying Redmond valuable time. As hardware costs rise, gamers are less likely to experiment with alternative operating systems. Sticking with a familiar, stable Windows setup becomes the safer bet when every dollar counts. This economic pressure slows the momentum Valve has been building, giving Microsoft a window to respond before SteamOS becomes a genuine threat.
(Source: Ars Technica)
