Given that the upcoming hand-held PC by Valve has its operating system based on Linux, it's not too surprising that the Steam Deck crew are keen to make use of the open-source system, even if it's not the powerhouse that Windows is. Recently, both Valve and Nvidia teamed up to bring DLSS to Linux systems. Now, it seems as though the OS has another reason to celebrate, possibly thanks to the developer and publisher's upcoming hand-held device.
In a recent report, it's been announced that interest in Linux has risen, showing that more people are now starting to use the operating system, according to a survey on Steam hardware. While there doesn't seem to be any way to know for sure, it's entirely possible that this increase has occurred thanks to the announcement of the Steam Deck. The report goes on to estimate that if the number of Steam users a month has averaged around 120 million since the start of the year, then just over 1.2 million of them were active Linux users. This puts the open-source software into the 1% market share.
It might not sound like a lot, but it is a marvelous achievement and the Linux community seem pleased with it. This isn't the first time this has happened, either. A similar thing happened a few years ago, but it dipped below the 1% until now. With the Steam Deck being rumored a few months ago and word saying it would run Linux, it's entirely possible that Valve's gaming device is responsible for this increase in popularity. The timing of it seems to match up.
While the Deck does run a Linux-based OS, there are rising concerns that this could affect some of the big multiplayer games. Titles such as Call of Duty: Warzone and Rainbow Six: Siege may not run on the handheld system. This is less to do with the Deck itself, and more to do with the anti-cheat software that many online games come with as standard. It seems as though, even though the device is based on Linux, the anti-cheat feature is not compatible with this system, which could affect these specific games. Hopefully, Valve will have a fix before it's released.
Even though early prototypes of the Steam Deck were supposedly quite ugly, it's fast becoming this year's most talked about gaming machine. While still being compared to the Switch, largely because they both look similar in design, Valve's contribution to mobile gaming is going after the PC market rather than console gamers, which could set it apart from its Nintendo contemporary.
The Steam Deck is due out this December.
Source: GamingOnLinux