Summary
- CachyOS overtook Arch Linux on ProtonDB after ~2 years of growth.
- ProtonDB reports measure reports about Proton performance, not overall distro quality.
- The chart excludes the Steam Deck and separates both Arch and SteamOS desktop reports.
Gaming on Linux is no longer the joke it used to be. Once relegated to the world of professional use and nothing else, gaming support on the open-source operating system has been gradually growing over the past few years, and it has gotten to the point where some people claim that Linux runs their games better than Windows does.
However, over on ProtonDB, one operating system had reigned supreme since 2021: Arch Linux. And I say ‘had,’ because its streak has just been ended by CachyOS in an upset that has slowly grown over the past two years.
I ran Arch for a year before realizing I should have used CachyOS
After a year on Arch Linux, CachyOS showed me how much time I was spending on maintenance instead of actually using my PC.
CachyOS manages to take out Arch Linux for the top spot on ProtonDB
It took about two years to finally hit the top spot
As reported on Boiling Steam, the number of reports coming from CachyOS has topped that of Arch Linux, which held the crown for the most number of reports since 2021. In case you’re unfamiliar, ProtonDB collects reports from people who run games via Proton on Linux to gauge how well each title plays. That way, people can search for a game they want to play via Proton and see if it’ll run well or not.
As such, this isn’t really a statement that CachyOS is the best gaming distro out there; however, it’s seemingly attracting the largest number of gamers who are invested in testing games on Proton and reporting their performance, which is a pretty big milestone if you ask me. You can check out CachyOS’s growth in the chart above; you can see it get a proper foothold on the charts in early 2024, so it has taken around two years of growth to get to this point.
Of course, Boiling Steam has a few disclaimers about the data:
This may not be representative of all types of Linux users. I’m sure this is not what your AWS architect uses on EC2.
This may not be completely representative of all Linux gamers either. But I’d wage this is actually a good predictor where the market is going to shift. We saw first that Manjaro was getting the boot here first, before going under pretty much everywhere.
Boiling Steam also points out that the above chart separates both Arch Linux and SteamOS running on the desktop into different categories, with the latter labelled as HoloISO. As such, Arch Linux’s large share is not due to the Steam Deck pushing up its numbers. In fact, because the chart only records desktop machine reports, it doesn’t include the Steam Deck at all.
