Steam data reveals PC gamers shifting from Windows to Linux

Windows is still the most popular operating system for PC gaming, with 59.9% of gamers using Windows 11, and a further 35.2% still using the soon-to-be end-of-life Windows 10. This is the latest data from Valve as part of its monthly Steam Hardware & Software Survey results for July 2025, which also shows that an increasing number of PC gamers are moving to or gaming on Linux.

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Part of this is due to the popularity of Valve's Steam Deck PC gaming handheld, which runs on SteamOS or "Arch Linux". With reports pointing to Valve officially releasing SteamOS for desktop PCs in the future, alongside a potential lineup of dedicated Steam PCs hitting the market, there's a growing community of PC gamers out there looking to make the switch from Windows to SteamOS for PC gaming.

The current process to get SteamOS running on a desktop PC with AMD hardware isn't all that difficult, and the latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey results show that Linux is gaining ground. The July 2025 data shows that Windows' market share on Steam dropped by 0.44% while Linux's market share grew by 0.32%.

Now, these percentage numbers might seem small or negligible; however, it's worth remembering that Steam has over 132 million monthly active users, so Linux's 2.89% operating system market share represents around 4 million PC gamers. With SteamOS making waves in the PC gaming handheld space, alongside word that it's set to make its way to more PCs, Microsoft is aware of the potential threat Windows faces as the dominant PC gaming platform.

The reason SteamOS is proving to be the operating system of choice for PC gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck and Lenovo Legion Go S comes down to two things. One, the UI is fast and optimized for controllers, and second, without non-gaming Windows processes taking up resources, games run considerably faster on SteamOS than they do running on Windows 11. And yes, this applies to desktop PCs.

Although Linux and SteamOS have a long way to catch up to the 95% market share that Windows has, Microsoft is already responding to the potential shift. The upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X handheld from Microsoft and ASUS will reportedly ship with a gaming-optimized version of Windows 11 with a dedicated Xbox UI and interface that aims to streamline the experience while boosting in-game performance and overall handheld efficiency.

In addition to this, it's also being rumored that the next Xbox console will run on a more advanced version of this gaming-optimized Windows, with the company committed to making Windows the number one platform in gaming across PC, console, and handheld devices. Will it be enough to stop Linux from gaining more ground? Time will tell.