Published May 5, 2026, 11:00 AM EDT After a 7-year corporate stint, Tanveer found his love for writing and tech too much to resist. An MBA in Marketing and the owner of a PC building business, he writes on PC hardware, technology, and Windows. When not scouring the web for ideas, he can be found building PCs, watching anime, or playing Smash Karts on his RTX 3080 (sigh). We know SteamOS as the tipping point that brought Linux gaming the unprecedented attention it enjoys today . Out of the 5% Linux gamers, 1/4th are on SteamOS, and a large portion of them run it on the category-defining Steam Deck. Valve's iconic PC gaming handheld was the first real proof of concept for Linux gaming on a wildly popular device, not just on a handful of desktops and laptops. SteamOS was the reason the Linux backbone disappeared, allowing gamers to accept it as a long-term option.…