How does the Hardware & Software Survey work?

[jqpdev]

How does Valve collect and tabulate the data and determine who is a windows user and who is a Linux user. For example, if I launch steam from Windows 10, play a Windows game, reboot, and launch steam from Manjaro Linux and play Linux native game, am I:
- counted once as a Windows user
- counted once as a Linux user
- counted as both a Windows and Linux user

What happens if I only launch steam but do not play any games?
Do I have enable a setting to opt-in to the survey?
How often is the data collected?
Can I manually trigger a data collection event?
Is there a way for Linux users to manually declare themselves as such and be counted as such?

[Omega]

The data which is publicly shared is only collected on a voluntary basis. At random, usually at the end of the month a small number of Steam users will be asked if they would like to participate in the Steam hardware survey. If the user accepts system information will be collected, if the user declines his system information is not collected.

The machine on which the survey was accepted will be counted.


I am sure Valve itself also collects system information which is not shared. Valve knows you run both Windows and Linux.

[TehSpoopyKitteh]

Steam, from what I can recall, will only gather information on your hardware for statistic analysis. I can only assume it helps developers a great deal to have that basic kind of data...and as Omega implied, it is totally voluntary.

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

[jqpdev]

@Omega:
It sounds like a recipe for skewed public results if a randomly selected subgroup of the community are approached and a subset of that allow the collection. Game developers/publishers use the low Linux user percentage count as a reason not to port their games to Linux or target Linux from the start of their development. There are some good alternatives in WINE, Lutris, and Proton, but that again gives developers a lazy man's escape from making native Linux game clients.

I've been keeping an eye on games and publishers/developers that offer native Linux versions. I also buy games that have native Linux clients. The technology on the Linux side is progressing to the point where Linux is an attractive option, but the hardware survey is scaring away devs and publishers from Linux. Valve might need to augment the data collection to allow for manual declaration or a way to opt-in to the data collection. This is especially true for gamers like me who don't keep the Steam Launcher running all the time.

[Omega]

Game developers and hardware manufacturers indeed do base their decision of what platforms to support on this Steam survey. I am unsure if Valve gives the actual numbers to larger game developers and publishes like Ubisoft. AMD says they look at the Steam survey to decide what hardware to release, AMD is a big company so I doubt Valve shares the actual numbers.

Linux users are actually more likely to accept the survey, since we want to increase the market share percentage. If our efforts have any effect I have no idea. You also don't have to be always online for the survey to appear, it will usually appear immediately when you login.

What you can do to make your voice heard is set the store OS prefference to Linux only and then adding games to your wishlist. They will show up in the developer's stats as Linux users which are interested in their game.
https://store.steampowered.com/account/preferences


The amount of games which run flawless under Proton is slowly increasing, at this rate we'll have most Windows games running within a few years. Also increasingly more Windows games run better on Linux under Proton then they do natively on Windows. It's only a matter of time before Linux becomes mainstream.

Various companies like Google and Valve are putting tons of work in to AMD and Intel graphics drivers also which has given us huge performance and stability boosts.

Valve will probably give Steam Machines another try also, we'll have to see how that turns out.


I use Arch btw

[hawkeye]

The steam hardware survey isn't scaring anyone.

Producing games for linux is low return. One of the most expensive parts of commercial software development was/is the wide variety of operating systems. It costs a lot of money to just develop and QA for the different versions of windows, let alone anything else. Add in the different linux and mac o/s'es and only the biggest selling titles are going to be ported, if at all. Why would a product manager fund human resources porting a game when (a) it's easily runnable on free windows and (b) the human resources required could be working on something that will have a much greater return on investment.

IT development companies are more interested in the future, so looking at what people have bought isn't that important. It takes years to develop complex software, linux is high risk and inefficient use of capex. And a different skill set. It's hard to recruit people into a what may be perceived as a dead-end job. It's why linux ports are often subcontracted to specialists for a fixed price.

Professional consulting companies produce better information. Here is an example of the content of a recent report -

"Summary
Technology product managers responsible for gaming PC offerings must understand how to overcome future challenges if they are to remain profitable. Mobile and cloud gaming threaten their market, and they need to react quickly.

Table Of Contents
Analysis

Who Is Purchasing Gaming PCs?
Competitive Situation and Trends
VR Lacks Key Elements for Near-Term Adoption and Interest
Cloud-Based and Streaming Games Will Impact Gaming PCs Beyond 2020
Mobile Gaming
Market Players
The Future of Competition
Gaining More Inroads Into the Gaming Ecosystem
Competitive Profiles"

[jqpdev]

Originally posted by Omega:

It's only a matter of time before Linux becomes mainstream.

Valve will probably give Steam Machines another try also, we'll have to see how that turns out.

I use Arch btw
:installgen2: :signix:

Linux will become mainstream for gaming if Microsoft, Google, Sony, etc. don't intervene. The upcoming game consoles will draw a chunk of the gaming crowd, which will amount to a disruptive force to Linux gaming becoming mainstream. IMO, Valve should have had Steam Machine v2.0 ready to roll at the recent E-3. Especially since Google is rolling out Stadia.

I'm on Manjaro. I'm on Ryzen, and soon I'll be on RX 5700.

I showed my 19 year old this video when he came home after his semester ended:

YouTube™ Video: Microsoft Should be VERY Afraid - Noob's Guide to Linux Gaming 

Views: 3,160,142

Grab the Volta 2.0 magnetic cable on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/volta or the main website https://voltacharger.com/ Get a Joan board and use offer code LINUS8 to get 8% off at...

He was blown away. SC-2 on Linux FTW.

[jqpdev]

@Hawkeye:
Actually it boils down to perception. An inefficient use of capex as you put it is based on what?:
1 - inaccurate information about market share when Linux isn't tied to a market share model thus its an apples to oranges comparison which many don't understand
2 - inaccurate info. on the size of the user base
both of which are driving decision making

What ends up happening is someone says "Hey Linux is great for gaming... here are 1-5 reasons why". The decision makers take 1 look at the Steam HW survey and see 0.7% and go "Oh Hell No... not touching that crap... not risking my job on that crap."

Contrary to what you said, it seems the big gaming companies to be the most hesitant to target Linux, while mid-range and indie companies are more willing to take risks. Only the tiny and most financially desperate of shops have almost zero risk tolerance. Besides the greedier shops aren't looking at Windows when they can easily verify the market share of consoles and use that info. to present a case for targeting consoles. Windows is gravy for them, while consoles are the meat and potatoes.

For example, Path of Exile has been a huge success from the original game launch. GGG, the developer/publisher, refuses to port to Linux, but instead chose to target consoles because of the all important "market share" argument. Grim dawn's developer/publisher, Crate Entertainment, is using the same market share argument along with pointing a finger and the very tiny % count of Linux gamers in the Steam HW & SW survey. Big companies like Activision/Blizzard, refuse to port their games to Linux despite their use of Linux in their infrastructure. Also, Activision is a console company first foremost so they look at Linux as going against their core business strategy.

Developing a game on any platform does not automatically translate to success so the expense can yield a negative return on investment. Just look at the harsh rejection Diablo Immortal received. Linux has been and continues to embrace open standards, such as Vulkan, which should attract more developers.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Randomly asked every 1st of every month. Just fyi...

[jqpdev]

thank you Mr. Sauce :)

[Marc Gravett]

It still doesn't recognise more than 3 Controllers:

Controller: XInput Controller (gamepad)
Controller: NEXT SNES Controller (gamepad)
Controller: G-Shark GS-GP702 (gamepad)

I additionally have another 3 USB Control Devices plugged in, this really needs to be amended for the next Survey.