The numbers are even lower for gamers.
https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam
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Look, your whole “TVs, routers, and Steam Decks aren’t desktop replacements” argument is a textbook deflection. Nobody said you run Word on a router or Doom on a fridge. That’s a strawman. The point is Linux is already everywhere, powering devices you use daily — from your phone to your router to the very servers running FiveM itself. That’s not just trivia; it’s the foundation of a serious tech ecosystem that can and should be leveraged.
The UI and workflows on modern distros like Linux Mint, Fedora KDE, or openSUSE Tumbleweed are designed to be user-friendly and familiar, not some cryptic command-line-only nightmare. You dismiss them like they don’t exist, which means you’re either ignoring real progress or stuck in outdated stereotypes.
Less than 5% desktop market share? Cool stat, but that’s a snapshot in time. Market share is a lagging indicator, not a prophecy. Windows’s dominance isn’t some holy grail; it’s a legacy of forced OEM preloads, not technical superiority. Ignoring the trajectory of tools like Proton, DXVK, Steam Deck, and growing privacy-conscious users is ignoring the future.
Your position boils down to “because it hasn’t happened yet, it never will.” That’s not logic — it’s willful blindness. Linux support isn’t about avoiding financial loss; it’s about smart strategic growth and community inclusion. FiveM ignoring Linux is the real bottleneck here, not the “feasibility” of the OS.
So maybe instead of shutting down progress with tired talking points, ask yourself why so many users are willing to switch if it were truly that hard. Or maybe your “logic” is just resistance to change dressed up as common sense.
End of story.
Respectfully, that line of thinking misses the bigger picture entirely.
Yes, Windows dominates the desktop market today. But relying solely on static market share numbers ignores clear industry trends and user demands shifting underneath the surface. MacOS, with a smaller user base than Windows, still gets first-class support across most major software because it matters strategically. Linux deserves the same forward-looking respect, especially given its explosive growth in gaming via Proton, Steam Deck, and Wine.
Saying “just dual-boot if you want FiveM on Linux” is a lazy workaround, not a solution. It’s a barrier that artificially limits your own community and locks out skilled users who prefer or require Linux for control, performance, or privacy reasons. That’s a loss — not just for those users, but for the ecosystem.
A working anti-cheat and more features aren’t mutually exclusive with Linux support. Modern anti-cheat systems (EAC, BattleEye) are evolving to support Linux and Proton environments. It’s about investing smartly — modularizing the client, opening non-sensitive parts for community contributions, and embracing compatibility layers first. You don’t have to rewrite the whole codebase overnight.
The question isn’t “why support Linux now,” it’s “why ignore it and risk stagnation while the ecosystem shifts?” Clinging to Windows-only support because it’s easy or familiar is a short-term mindset.
That’s reality, not wishful thinking.
How is it a deflection? You are falsely inflating numbers to support your theory that there is a quickly growing audience by using devices unrelated to desktop operating systems, let alone ones that can run the kind of games you are talking about.
It IS about the current market precentage. How do you think businesses make decisions. Linux is not going to magically jump above MacOS any time soon. You don’t need to be an expert to see that.
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Yes, because having a desire to spend the little resources Cfx has to support and update the existing platform for vast majority of its users “misses the bigger picture”.
I think the bigger picture is not getting emotional and understanding there are huge headwinds against your idea. No one is saying there shouldn’t be more support for Linux but it doesn’t make financial or business sense. It literally costs a magnitude more to support Linux than a company will get in return from those users. It’s basic market principles. Even with healthy projections “, this will still be true in 20 years.
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You’re again confusing realism with resignation.
“You’re falsely inflating numbers.”
Excuse me, what? No, I’m recognizing industry direction, not clinging to outdated desktop metrics. You’re the one cherry-picking raw percentages as if innovation only follows the majority. If that were true, macOS support would never exist — yet here we are, with every title ensuring it does. What, the world’s supercomputers run Windows 24/7, right? 
“Businesses make decisions based on current market share.”
Wrong again — smart businesses invest based on trajectory and strategic positioning, not just raw user count. Why do you think Steam invested heavily in Proton and the Deck? Because the writing is on the wall. A whole new Linux-native gaming market is forming. That’s not emotional — that’s observable.
“Supporting Linux costs too much.”
Outdated logic. With containerization, Proton, modular game engines, and anti-cheats now supporting Linux (including EAC and BattleEye under Wine), the cost of support is shrinking, while the cost of ignoring the platform is growing. Your argument would’ve maybe held in 2010. It doesn’t in 2025.
“It doesn’t make business sense.”
It doesn’t make business sense to alienate a skilled, tech-savvy, and rapidly growing base of users who are literally creating and fixing things for you. The modding and open-source crowd lives on Linux. Locking them out isn’t a financial decision — it’s self-sabotage.
And let’s not pretend that Cfx is some helpless garage project. They’re backed by Rockstar now. Crying about “limited resources” doesn’t fly when you’re operating under a billion-dollar umbrella.
You keep acting like this is a crusade for Linux world domination. It’s not. It’s about access, flexibility, and future-proofing. You can’t keep patching Windows-only support and calling it “focus.” That’s not focus — that’s fear of progress.
You don’t have to like the future. But you’re going to have to face it. You are clearly defending Microsoft and their buffon OEMs that directly put spyware and bloatware on everything they put their hands on.
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You seem to not understand the resources available to Cfx regardless if they are backed by Rockstar. And absolutely you inflate numbers if you are going to include routers and TVs in your number of users that use Linux. The fact you don’t see that as non-like data is enough to understand you are lacking some serious understanding.
Did you not want to read the parts where I said it’s not bad to argue for Linux support but the point you are making don’t align with reality. I’m not sure how old you are, but some experience in business would open your eyes to the actual reasons do things.
SteamOS is a great side affect of Steam wanting a handheld because guess what, there’s a ton of market share of users who would like a handheld device that isn’t a Nintendo product. And yes, windows sucks on handheld, so they went with an extremely modified version of Linux to reduce the overhead and allow for deep skinning. Now tell a normal person to install epic games, GOG or the Xbox app and watch there eyes get glassy.
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“You inflate numbers if you include routers and TVs.”
No one said TVs and routers are desktop replacements. The point — which you’re deliberately missing — is that Linux dominates everywhere but the desktop, and market share numbers alone don’t measure future viability. You keep repeating “less than 5%” like it’s gospel, while completely ignoring the growth curve, not the static snapshot.
“You don’t understand how business decisions work.”
On the contrary — I do. And that’s exactly why I’m pointing out that innovation doesn’t wait for market share to justify itself. Steam Deck, Android, ChromeOS, servers, containers — all built on Linux — weren’t “financially obvious” at the start. But here we are.
Valve didn’t choose Linux on a whim. They chose it to break free from Windows’ limitations — driver junk, forced updates, anti-consumer APIs. You’re not seeing forward — you’re just stuck in Microsoft’s 2010.
“Try telling a normal person to install GOG on Linux.”
Try telling a normal person to avoid 10 OEM-installed apps, Bing ads, Edge “default browser” screens, and telemetry toggles on Windows. They don’t want that either. Linux doesn’t have to be 100% perfect — just good enough to spark demand, which SteamOS has already proven.
The Danish government already changed to Linux; https://www.pcmag.com/news/denmark-wants-to-dump-microsoft-software-for-linux-libreoffice
Microsoft is clearly losing inertia from shady business practices.
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i came in here to support the cause but if you’re gonna prompt chatgpt for nonsense AI replies uhh
last sentence is an exaggeration. installing proprietary launchers has never been easier via lutris or heroic
Desktop, where it matters for FiveM.
For profit-driven entities, like Rockstar, yes it does. Why waste time on something that won’t make a profit?
So do numbers matter or not? Maybe in twenty years, Linux will have equal marketshare with MacOS.
Your average consumer wants familiarity and convenience, not “innovation” through endless command lines and unsupported applications.
Your “normal person” might be annoyed by these things, if they even notice them, but not enough to teach themselves how to install a new operating system and then learn how to use it. Also, all the things you mentioned can be disabled, uninstalled, or avoided with an ad blocker.
People use SteamOS because it’s on the Steam Deck, a convenient and easy way for people to play games on the go, not because they like Linux. The Steam Deck’s popularity wouldn’t be any different if it ran Windows. Of course you would try to act like Linux is the driving force behind the Steam Deck, you’ve used rhetorical bs in every reply you gave to the other guy.
Well, that’s it for Microsoft, a multi-billion dollar company that dominates the at-home use desktop market, because the Danish government is gonna move to Linux for government use. Meanwhile, the US Pentagon, an entity flooded with hundreds of billions of government dollars every year, is still using Windows. But, you’re right, Denmark will be the first domino in the fall of Windows and the rise of Linux. What does any of this have to do with FiveM coming to Linux?
You know, guy, bolding your statements doesn’t change the validity of them. That’s okay, you rely on rhetoric and ignoring valid points. It’s been the “Year of Linux” for about ten years straight now. Your average person doesn’t even know what Linux is, and when they look into it, all they find is self-important elitists who think they’re smarter than other people because they don’t use Windows.
For clarification, I hate Windows, but I hate being inconvenienced more. If I wanted to use a command line to use my machine, I’d use command prompt, not install one of the many versions of Linux available. If I were to move to one of the versions of Linux that approximate the use of Windows, it would need to natively support the various applications that I use. No one, myself included, wants to install compatibility patches and tweak settings just to get something to work, no matter how much they hate Windows.
And that’s really what this is, you hate Windows and can’t accept that there are valid reasons why people prefer it over Linux. That’s what I have to believe, since you refuse to refute any of the points the other guy made about how frustrating Linux is to use and instead conflated OS user percentages, which you got called out on and then lied and said you didn’t do (which is funny since you also say numbers don’t matter but you still feel the need to lie about them) and drone on about how Windows is bad, which it is, but at least it’s user friendly. Not to mention that when you do address the other guy’s points, it’s just to hand wave them or purposefully misinterpret them.
You continuously make arguments that boil down to “Linux is good on the back end, so use it for desktop,” when you actually try to make an argument, and when called out on it you pretend that isn’t what you’re doing. Why start a conversation about getting Linux support for FiveM when all this conversation boiled down to was you hating on Windows in the most disingenuous ways possible while ignoring all the valid points made against Linux as a desktop alternative to Windows? To steal your strategy of bolding statements, You don’t want to have an actual conversation about this, you want to be right. As long as Linux fosters a userbase full of people like you, no average person will ever use it as a complete replacement for Windows on desktop, because they don’t want to be associated with or have to deal with egotistical elitists that deal in half-truths, rhetoric, and lies.
And to address your first point, the point that really should have been focused on instead of getting into this “Windows sucks” discussion, why would CFX waste time with adding Linux support for FiveM for seemingly just you? What is stopping you from using Windows to play FiveM? Is it the telemetry, which you can turn off or use third party applications to block (please don’t say using third party apps is inconvenient while asking people to install a whole new operating system)? Is it the “Bing Ads,” which can be blocked by using ad blockers? Is it the OEM installs, which can be uninstalled? Is it Edge, which can be uninstalled? You’ve really failed at explaining how Linux is a viable alternative, since you’ve only explained how Windows is annoying. I’m certain you recognize that, since you selectively address points made by others, purposefully misinterpret other’s points, and have to conflate numbers to make Linux seem more popular on desktop than it actually is.
Go ahead and ask any layman computer user what these are and how to use them. If it’s not a double click install, a vast majority of users are not going to deal with it. Even more so with the growing generation that has only dealt with app based chromebooks and barely understand what a file system is.
Heck, there’s a large amount of users who can barely install FiveM on a Windows machine without dealing with any of these translation layers.
not sure you’ve ever used either of these tools, but heroic in particular is extremely easy to use, and the experience is only getting more refined and idiot proof with time. lutris could absolutely have a better front facing experience though. even aside from those bottles is piss easy to set up. im not saying the experience is perfect, but it’s come a very long way and is approaching the amount of difficulty a tech illiterate would have on windows. i encourage you to put linux on an old computer you may have lying around and see for yourself.
hell i forgot to mention the easiest method of all, which is simply adding a non steam game to steam, and steam automatically configures everything and defaults to proton experimental. in my case i’ve had games that were broken from the jump on windows without installing a multitude of dependencies work perfectly on linux via proton as those dependencies are built in with it. in some cases the learning curve is arguably already lower than windows in my experience as someone who is definitely not some kind of software dev handling everything from the command line, just a hardcore gamer and musician who dove headfirst into cachyos and hasn’t felt the need to use my backup windows laptop for anything.
again, this is aside from me understanding why the fivem team does not want to develop a native linux client. i understand the market share isn’t there yet and that the team has other priorities. i would be perfectly fine with it working through wine/proton for the record i haven’t tested that yet, it might very well work because the vast majority of things do via wine/proton.
You’ve written a novella to defend Windows, but ironically, you admit you hate it. That contradiction alone undermines half your rant and renders it useless. Moreover, you’ve accused me of elitism without any evidence for your baseless claims, which further undermines them. I never said I hate something - I don’t hate Windows, I don’t hate Linux. Everything is different and has its own limitations in software, just like a car.
Market share ≠ merit.
Denmark switching to Linux isn’t about killing Microsoft. If you think the Pentagon using Windows is a flex, you haven’t read about the ransomware attacks they’ve went through.
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You can hate something and still point out what it does right. Crazy concept in 2025, I know.
I didn’t “defend” Windows, I pointed out why Linux was a worse option. You know that, which is why you fail to address any of my points against Linux, a reoccurring theme with your posts.
Per your own words, it is about Microsoft losing “inertia,” or, them losing business. Please stop lying and using rhetorical nonsense to defend Linux when you started this thread to ask for FiveM on Linux.
All you have done, for months, is make baseless claims. More hand waving, I see.
You being an elitist about Linux:
You being a know-it-all, egotistical asshole:
Oh brother, that’s rich coming from you.
You are an elitist asshole. You ignore valid points, you make shit up, you lie, you conflate numbers, you act like SteamOS is why people bought the Steam Deck (it isn’t and you know it which is why you won’t address my point about it), you insult people for calling out your bullshit, and you’re incredibly self-important and egotistical. You, and those like you, are why no one wants to use any of the garbage heaps collectively known as Linux.
For those who realize that numbers are important, here’s percentage by OS from Steam’s latest survey:
You spent half your reply rage-typing about how I’m supposedly lying, making things up, and being self-important, all while quoting me like you’re writing a dissertation titled “Why I’m Mad Online.” You even pulled out Steam’s OS stats like they were holy scripture, as if that somehow invalidates the existence of Linux users who want FiveM support.
Am I supposed to be mad or upset? No. Your words don’t change anything. Rather, they’re inflammatory accusations without any basis, full of inconsistencies and logical fallacies I can’t bother to point out. You can keep mentioning the other posts and insulting me all you want. Nobody listens to your insults. They all go into the void and float there uselessly while your ego inflates…and you can’t accept you have an ego the size of Mt. Everest. What you wrote is projection, not analysis. You’ve been invested emotionally here from the start; wanting to seek attention and thrive on finding a reason to insult me. If you find your claims logical, I find them to be intellectually narcissist, stemming from ego, not analysis.
Also, thanks for the free psychoanalysis. I can see you’ve obtained a PhD in psychology to have the right to call me as your mouth and brain wants. Apparently, believing Linux deserves desktop support makes me a narcissist now. Wild. Next time, just say “I’m upset someone likes a different OS than me” and save yourself the essay.
Let’s not even pretend you’re above it all. You literally said “I hate Windows, but I hate being inconvenienced more,” then spent 1,000 words defending every inconvenience like Stockholm Syndrome. Yet you haven’t even proven I hate Windows and accused me of being an elitist, when I clearly use iOS, Android, and Windows 11 at home apart from Linux. Does that make me a Linux asshole-elitist, or does your ego keep getting bigger?
You can keep yelling at clouds and calling people names. It’s not going to change reality. Leave your house and get some oxygen and Vitamin D3 from the Sun, maybe your mind will be a bit more fresh. Don’t waste those neurons on people. Don’t even reply with another rant. You’ll waste time typing. 
all i wanna say to this is i am no computer programmer and i daily drive cachyos, a linux distro. i think this idea that linux is this unusable “endless command line” kind of experience is greatly exaggerated and outdated and also depends on the distro. i installed popos in my tech illiterate girlfriend’s old laptop and she’s having far less problems than she ever did on windows.
im not even opposed to the argument that the fivem team doesn’t want to work on a native linux client because the market share supposedly isn’t there (even if it isn’t, it definitely will be as linux’s userbase consistently grows and windows continues to get worse). i get that, and either way even if it were the fivem team can work on whatever they wanna work on. but this facile idea of people talking about linux like everyone is installing gentoo is frankly ridiculous and reveals how little non linux/anti linux folks know of what they’re talking about. like you’re talking about using command lines as if you’re required to interface with the terminal at all for any of the most popular distros, which you very much aren’t.
if they don’t want to develop for linux for reasons pertaining to market share or personal interest, that’s fine. but spreading misinfo about how linux is endless command lines exclusively promulgated by elitist neckbeards is disingenuous at best and very ignorant of how far the desktop linux experience has come in the last few years especially. the only reason i use linux is because it’s now completely viable and user friendly in 99.9% of cases, and in that .1% usually comes from cases like fivem or big corpos preventing their games’ anticheats from being usuable on linux for farcical, propagandistic reasons.
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Check out Winboat (dot app) , I think they will implement gpu passthru soon
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I think you might be arguing with chatgpt.
I have been keeping up with this thread for a couple weeks and decided to check back now that Windows 10 is EOL (I switched to Linux - I had to give up FiveM, but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make).
I am not using ChatGPT. AI is useless and it hallucinates and it does mistakes. If you think I am using ChatGPT, fine. Remember you have no actual evidence for that. Do I sound like an AI? It doesn’t matter how you type as long as your ideas get through and they are understood by the other person. I’m not going to detail further into this; if no clear evidence exists.