Valve hits a Linux landmark—1,500 games available on Steam

jeremy · 09-21-2015, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Still small compared to Windows, OS X, but there was a Linux-exclusive launch in July.

A few months after Valve officially launched Steam for Linux in 2013, Gabe Newell gave his LinuxCon keynote crowd a bit of music for their ears. "It feels a little bit funny coming here and telling you guys that Linux and open source are the future of gaming," the Valve head-man said. "It's sort of like going to Rome and teaching Catholicism to the pope."

Linux gaming was by no means a new endeavor, but 2013 stands as a major year for the open-source platform's gaming prospects with Valve announcing Linux-based Steam Machines and the arrival of SteamOS. When we looked at the state of Linux gaming after its 12-month Valve anniversary, we found nearly 1,000 professional, commercially distributed games available as of February 2015. But this weekend there's an even bigger numeric milestone to celebrate according to the Linux site Phoronix1,500 Linux titles are currently available through Steam.

Phoronix notes Steam has been adding roughly 100 Linux titles per month throughout the summer. And while the total number of Steam Linux offerings still pales in comparison to competing platformsPhoronix cites Windows at 6,464 games and OS X at 2,323the statistical growth in such a short period of time is undeniable. Anecdotal evidence supporting Steam's Linux gaming growth looks rosy as well. The five most popular Linux titles for Steam include major developer offerings like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (the rest of the top five according to Phoronix includes ARK: Survival Evolved, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2). And this summer, a small indie game called Don't Be Patchman even became the first Linux-exclusive launch on Steam.

More at Ars...

--jeremy