As I said — yes, in relative terms. But that doesn’t actually mean much in the broader context. A new product going from 0% to 0.1% technically experiences an infinite-percent increase, yet we’d all agree that 0.1% is still minuscule in the market it entered, right?

It’s disingenuous to frame “1% to 3%” as anything other than small when discussing overall market impact. That’s like a headline saying “violent crime up 300%!” — only for you to read the fine print and find out it went from 1 case to 4. Sure, that’s a technical 300% rise, but it’s still a tiny number in absolute terms.

For perspective: in 2022, Linux sat at around 1.45% on Steam’s survey, and Windows 11 was at 28%. Fast-forward to now — Windows 11 is at roughly 64%. That’s also about a 250% relative increase, but the absolute growth dwarfs Linux entirely. Windows 11 gained roughly 36 percentage points of share; Linux gained about 1.5. Even if we we give the benefit to steam OS and round it to 2 percentage points, thats still only a increase of 200%(it grew to 300% its original user base, it thus increased by 200%)

Even if we assume every bit of Linux growth is from SteamOS, that’s still a rounding error next to Windows’ gains. The absolute numbers are what matter for real-world influence — and right now, Linux’s growth is impressive for enthusiasts but negligible for the larger market.

And that’s before you even consider the user experience gap. SteamOS still isn’t remotely as mature, streamlined, or plug-and-play as console operating systems. It’s fantastic for tinkerers, but for an average user? It still needs too much manual tweaking to be a true living-room alternative. Valve has made huge strides, but until SteamOS can deliver a console-like “it just works” experience across all games and hardware, it’s never going to replace Windows or the major consoles for most people.

At the end of the day, investors, developers, and publishers don’t look at “percent growth,” they look at install base. That’s what determines what platforms get ports, funding, and long-term support. A niche system doubling or tripling its user share sounds dramatic — but when you’re growing from a speck to a slightly larger speck, it’s not a “market shift,” it’s a footnote.