Steam’s December 2025 survey has unveiled intriguing trends within the gaming community. After a promising uptick in November, Linux’s growth has unexpectedly plateaued, showing a slight decline of 0.01% in its install base. This pause comes after several months of steady progress, leaving some users pondering the future trajectory of this operating system.
In stark contrast, Windows users are experiencing a robust surge. Windows 11 has made significant strides, boasting a remarkable increase of 5.24%. This growth may be attributed to the impending end-of-life for Windows 10, alongside a potential influx of new users migrating from devices such as the Xbox Ally and various Windows handhelds. The data illustrates a clear trend: while Linux’s growth has stagnated, Windows 11 is currently capturing the majority of the market’s expansion.
Market Dynamics
In November 2025, Linux recorded a modest increase of 0.15%, while Windows 11 enjoyed a growth rate of approximately 2%. This context amplifies the significance of December’s shift, as all versions of Windows collectively accounted for 94.79% of Steam users in November, climbing to 94.95% in December. Meanwhile, Linux’s share dipped slightly from 3.20% to 3.19%. Notably, not all distributions experienced a downturn; Fedora managed to gain 0.05% in user numbers.
Shifts in hardware trends are also noteworthy. Systems equipped with 32GB of RAM saw an increase of 2.11%, whereas those with 16GB configurations experienced a decline of 0.80%. On the graphics front, the NVIDIA RTX 3060 has emerged as the most widely used GPU on Steam, surpassing the previous leader, the RTX 4060 Laptop GPU.
Virtual reality adoption has taken a significant leap as well. Meta’s Quest 3 has surged in popularity, increasing its user share by an impressive 24.42%, now standing 2% ahead of the Quest 2.
We invite you to share how your setup aligns with the latest trends reported by Steam. Are you in sync with the prevailing patterns, or do you find yourself as an outlier?
