The number of Linux games has just passed the 1000 milestone and there is no sign that it's slowing down. If anything, the rhythm of porting is getting faster.

The Steam for Linux platform is a little over two years old, and in all that time the developers have managed to release or port more than 1000 games. In fact, now there are 1002 games to be more precise, but that number is changing all the time. The gaming community didn't anticipate this kind of support and it's taking users by surprise.

If you take into consideration that the Linux adoption among the Steam users is somewhere around 1.5% (and that's being generous), the fact that we now have 1000 games ready for purchase and download is really amazing. To make things even more interesting, these are not all ports of older games, as you might expect. A large number of these titles have been released on all the platforms at once and that trend seems to increase.

Steam for Linux is on the rise

The low percentage of Linux users doesn't seem to have any effect on the development process, but there are still some major studios and publishers who are still waiting on the sideline to see what will happen and if investing money in development will actually pay off.

For example, on March 11 three games were released on Steam for Linux: Parallax, Cities: Skylines, and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. It's easy to understand why 1000 games in two years is not all that difficult to achieve.

Valve needs a home-run with the launch of Steam Machines in November and it's basically the only thing that will push all the major studios to consider Linux versions for their games. Unless Linux becomes a real money maker, the progress made will never see a breakthrough.