In October 2026 Linux returned close to 4% of Steam users. According to Valve's latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey, the open source operating system rose to 3.95%, roughly one system in twenty-five. Windows remains firmly in first place with 93.70%, while macOS stands at 2.35%.
The figure must be read alongside September's revision. The value first published for that month was 3.05%, but Valve later corrected it to 3.90%. This is why monthly changes depend on the baseline: GamingOnLinux reports a 0.90-point increase over the initially published September figure, while Phoronix, starting from the revised value, calculates a gain of just 0.05 points.
September's jolt was linked to a sharp shift in the sample. When the share of Simplified Chinese-language users grows, Windows tends to gain at Linux's expense. In October English returned to 39.04% and Simplified Chinese fell, and the hardware and system data rebalanced accordingly.
The most common distributions
Among distributions, CachyOS 64-bit leads with 16.39%, followed by SteamOS Holo 64-bit at 13.89% and Arch Linux 64-bit at 8.92%. Linux Mint 22.3 sits at 8.41%, SteamOS 64-bit at 8.09% and Bazzite at 6.74%. The remaining 14.76% falls under Other.
A community commenter noted that SteamOS appears twice in the list, once as Holo and once without the label. According to the same comment, the duplication may stem from a recent renaming that included the word "holo", which would split older and newer versions into separate counts. Another hypothesis is that the second entry represents the Steam Frame, Valve's headset, though its share makes that reading unlikely.
Image: ValveSoftware — https://github.com/ValveSoftware/SteamOS/wiki
Steam Frame enters the VR top ten
The Steam Frame has debuted in the VR headset ranking. The device launched in late September, so October was the first full month it was available. According to PC Gamer, its share rose from 0.41% in September to 4.13% in October, placing it ahead of Oculus Rift S, Sony PS VR2 and HTC Vive. It remains behind Meta Quest 3 (27.27%), Oculus Quest 2 (22.23%), Meta Quest 3S (11.04%) and Valve Index (9.90%).
The growth is partly tied to shipments, since both the 256 GB and 1 TB models are backordered. Anyone ordering now joins a waiting list, so usage of the Steam Frame is unlikely to stall in the short term.
For readers following Linux on Steam, the data confirms an oscillating trend: the share rises when the sample stabilises and falls when the weight of Asian languages increases. The gap from 4% therefore reflects sampling factors more than a clear change in player behaviour.
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