Linux overtakes Macs on Steam thanks to the Steam Deck

No, Macs have never been a serious gamer’s first choice. But when even Linux-based systems are climbing past Apple’s computers on Steam’s hardware list, you start to wonder.

Steam’s monthly hardware report shows that more gamers are using Linux devices than Apple Macs, to the tune of 1.96 versus 1.84 percent (the vast majority of course run Windows PCs). The explanation? Probably Valve’s own Steam Deck gaming handheld. The breakout device runs on Valve’s custom Linux-based Steam OS and intensely marketed (and praised) over the past year.

Perhaps we shouldn’t make too much of these tiny overall numbers, but it’s not an understatement to say that Apple has a long way to go when it comes to gaming. Even though Apple’s home-grown M1 and M2 chips offer decent gaming performance, the company needs to speed up the number of games released for Mac OS if it wants to make some serious inroads with gamers. Until then, there’s always Nvidia’s GeForce Now streaming service.

Further Steam Deck reading

This story was translated from Swedish to English, and originally appeared on m3.se.

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