Gaming-first Linux distro delivers 1 PB as users dodge Windows 11 — Bazzite a haven for Win 10 refugees

[branfont]

Original title: "Gaming-first Linux distro delivers a petabyte of ISOs in one month as users avoid forced updates to Windows 11 — Bazzite distro is another safe haven for Win 10 refugees"

 

Earlier in the week, we reported on the barnstorming success Linux distro Zorin OS has had since the official end of support for Windows 10 date passed, notching 780,000 installs from Windows 10 users in a mere five weeks. Now it turns out that other Linux distros are also making hay while Microsoft Windows 10’s sun sets: The developers of Bazzite have taken to social media to trumpet that it has “delivered over 1 petabyte of Bazzite ISOs in just the last 30 days.”

From October 29 to November 28, team Bazzite is happy to share that the site had 730,000 unique visitors, and it served 1PB of data during a month, for the first time. How many Bazzite OS downloads does this imply? We looked at the various ISO installers on offer and noted that an Nvidia GPU friendly ISO was 7.5GB, and an AMD GPU-ready ISO 6.6GB. So, if we assume an average of 7.0GB per ISO, that would be about 143,000 Bazzite downloads – getting close to 150,000 new users, as a best-case scenario.

Why Bazzite?

For those unfamiliar with Bazzite, it first blipped on our radar back in 2023, when it made waves as a gaming-centric SteamOS clone for those without a Steam Deck, but who were looking for a similar experience.

Bazzite progress has continued, but one has to admit its future looks less certain now that SteamOS is officially available for desktops. Nevertheless, Bazzite has been developed long and lovingly enough to make a fight of it. It currently offers broader system support, with the latest Linux drivers for broad compatibility with lots of desktops, laptops, and handhelds. You get a choice of downloading an ISO with Nvidia drivers already in place, and a choice of multiple desktop environments, too. Another important thing for gamers is the ready support for non-Steam launchers (for your Epic, GOG, Ubisoft and other PC games libraries).

 

 

https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/gaming-first-linux-distro-delivers-a-petabyte-of-isos-in-one-month-as-users-avoid-forced-updates-to-windows-11-bazzite-distro-is-another-safe-haven-for-win-10-refugees

[tsupersonic]

Good. Linux has made great progress over the past few years in general, and it should only get better. There are plenty of great distros out there for gaming besides Bazzite - Nobara, CachyOS, and Garuda are the most popular. 

[Arceles]

I just installed arch and it is fast as hell.

[satukoro]

On 30/11/2025 at 21:51, Arceles said:

I just installed arch and it is fast as hell.

I switched to arch ever since i found out its the base for SteamOS and have no complaints in regards to gaming. Arch + kde is a pleasure to use.

Only setback at the moment is kernel level anti cheat in games from EA (cant play skate. or battlefield for example). I'm sure someone will come up with a workaround.

Over at phoronix, i see a lot of folks using and recommending CachyOS which i think is based off arch but with some additional performance improvements.