14 DAY TRIAL // It is clear that Steam for Linux is here to stay, and proof of that is that the Steam library of the open source platform has just passed 1,300 titles.
You might think that 1,300 is not a big number, but this has been achieved in just a little over two years. Before Steam for Linux was released, the gaming capabilities of Linux were laughable, but that's not the case anymore. The platform has moved on from virtually no major games to 1,300 titles on Steam, and we're not even counting the ones that are only available on GOG.com.
There is a total of 5877 games for the Windows platform, which means that one in four games on Steam has Linux support. Just a few months ago that fraction was one in five. Things are getting better with each passing day, and there is no reason to believe that things are about to change anytime soon.
Even more Linux users will be here after November
Valve plans to release Steam Machines in November. These are PC / Console hybrids that run a Linux distro and Steam as a desktop environment. If they prove to be a success, then we might get to a surge in both the number of users and the number of games for Linux.
Right now, things are not going so well. The number of Linux gamers has been dropping for the last couple of months. At least, this is what the Hardware Survey tells us. Even if that is the case, Valve is continuing to invest money and time into this platform in an effort to promote it.
The hardware manufacturers have also started to pay more attention to Linux gamers, even if the drivers are not on par with the other platforms, especially Windows. In any case, if things progress in the same rhythm, we might get to see 2,000 titles on Steam for Linux by the end of the year.