I think I’m going to switch back to Windows until the situation with Linux is a bit more stable. I lasted 6 months, but the freezing is incredibly off putting.
Community Linux
- Thread starter LEANIJA
- Start date
Linux players on Steam hit an all-time high for November 2025
Valve released the statistics from the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for November 2025, which shows once again that Linux use is trending nicely upwards.
www.gamingonlinux.com
Valve's version of Android on Linux (based on Waydroid) is now called Lepton
Lepton appears to be the new official name for Valve's version of Waydroid (Android in a Linux container).
www.gamingonlinux.com
So, my main gaming rig is on Linux, but I have a PC hooked up to my TV that is still running Windows, which I mostly play games on through Moonlight but do occasionally run games directly on, for games where latency will be a problem. I didn't want to switch since I have a pretty intricate AutoHotKey script to start Moonlight when I connect my controller, and I don't know how to replicate that functionality on Linux.
Ideally, I want to use Steam's remote play streaming to stream games to the TV, since I'm going to be getting a new Steam Controller and that's the only way I'd be reasonably able to use it in a remote-play setting. But Steam's remote play is just kind of broken in a bunch of convoluted ways; using the dedicated "Steam Link" app works the best, but is very janky when streaming from a Linux host. Bringing up the side menus while not in a game makes the screen go black, unless Steam's Big Picture is running in a window, as an example.
Meanwhile, using Steam itself on the client PC was basically non-functional. It brings up a separate window for the remote play feed, but that window wouldn't send home button inputs to the host; they'd get caught by Steam BPM in the background, wreaking havoc as both the game on the host and Steam BPM on the client are doing things with the controller input at the same time. This behavior occurred both on Windows and Linux. So, that was a bust.
Anyway, the other day I was fiddling with my HTPC setup to see if I could get USB/IP to work, and I noticed that bug with using Steam as the client was fixed at some point! And Steam remote play actually gives me noticably better latency than Moonlight. Long story short, I should be able to switch my living room PC to Linux now, assuming that fixed behavior carries over to Linux*. Then in 2026, zero percent of my gaming time would be on Windows. Hell yes.
*It's possible that stopped happening because I switched Steam to run in Admin mode, to work around some gacha game problems. I'll need to test when I get home.
Ideally, I want to use Steam's remote play streaming to stream games to the TV, since I'm going to be getting a new Steam Controller and that's the only way I'd be reasonably able to use it in a remote-play setting. But Steam's remote play is just kind of broken in a bunch of convoluted ways; using the dedicated "Steam Link" app works the best, but is very janky when streaming from a Linux host. Bringing up the side menus while not in a game makes the screen go black, unless Steam's Big Picture is running in a window, as an example.
Meanwhile, using Steam itself on the client PC was basically non-functional. It brings up a separate window for the remote play feed, but that window wouldn't send home button inputs to the host; they'd get caught by Steam BPM in the background, wreaking havoc as both the game on the host and Steam BPM on the client are doing things with the controller input at the same time. This behavior occurred both on Windows and Linux. So, that was a bust.
Anyway, the other day I was fiddling with my HTPC setup to see if I could get USB/IP to work, and I noticed that bug with using Steam as the client was fixed at some point! And Steam remote play actually gives me noticably better latency than Moonlight. Long story short, I should be able to switch my living room PC to Linux now, assuming that fixed behavior carries over to Linux*. Then in 2026, zero percent of my gaming time would be on Windows. Hell yes.
*It's possible that stopped happening because I switched Steam to run in Admin mode, to work around some gacha game problems. I'll need to test when I get home.
I think Valve have been improving their streaming stuff over the last 18 months or so as they've been having a Remote Play Together push alongside getting latency down to as low as possible for the Steam Frame.
It's very good now, and I don't have any issues using Steam Remote Play over Moonlight anymore.
It's very good now, and I don't have any issues using Steam Remote Play over Moonlight anymore.