--- title: The Linux gaming distro that refused to join the Open... description: CachyOS, a rolling-release Arch-based Linux distro, declined to join the Open Gaming Collective (OGC) when it launched, citing concerns about bureaucratic... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-linux-gaming-distro-that-refused-to-join-the-open-gaming-collective-is-now-dominating-the-steam--f232sehtp twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The Linux gaming distro that refused to join the Open Gaming Collective is now dominating the Steam charts | daily.dev og:description: CachyOS, a rolling-release Arch-based Linux distro, declined to join the Open Gaming Collective (OGC) when it launched, citing concerns about bureaucratic... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-linux-gaming-distro-that-refused-to-join-the-open-gaming-collective-is-now-dominating-the-steam--f232sehtp og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/f232sEHTp.png og:image:alt: The Linux gaming distro that refused to join the Open Gaming Collective is now dominating the Steam charts og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The Linux gaming distro that refused to join the Open Gaming Collective is now dominating the Steam charts **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 88 upvotes · 5 comments ## Summary CachyOS, a rolling-release Arch-based Linux distro, declined to join the Open Gaming Collective (OGC) when it launched, citing concerns about bureaucratic overhead, association with Web3-linked Playtron, and the rushed circumstances around Bazzite's involvement. Founder Peter Jung argued that CachyOS already collaborated with OGC members informally and that the OGC's upstream-first policy means improvements flow to all distros anyway. Six months later, CachyOS ranks second in Valve's Steam Hardware Survey at 14.31% of Linux Steam users, behind only SteamOS at 22.24%, and ahead of OGC members Bazzite (7.73%) and Nobara (1.65%). Notably, CachyOS doesn't even market itself as a gaming distro — its primary focus is high performance and Arch's rolling release model. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What percentage of Steam users are running CachyOS according to the Steam Hardware Survey? CachyOS accounts for 14.31% of users on Valve's Steam Hardware Survey, ranking second overall behind SteamOS Holo at 22.24%. Among OGC member distros, Bazzite trails at 7.73% and Nobara at 1.65%, making CachyOS the top choice among distros users install specifically for gaming rather than ones preinstalled on Valve hardware. _Track how Linux gaming distros stack up on daily.dev as adoption numbers shift over time._ ### Why did CachyOS refuse to join the Open Gaming Collective? CachyOS founder Peter Jung declined membership because he saw little benefit for the project, worried the collective could become a 'bureaucratic loophole,' and didn't want association with Playtron, the company behind GameOS and the Web3-linked SuiPlay0x1 handheld, a founding OGC member. He was also wary after Bazzite dropped developer Antheas Kapenekakis's Handheld Daemon for InputPlummer amid its OGC alignment. _Follow Linux distro governance debates like this one on daily.dev before picking a gaming setup._ ### Do non-member distros like CachyOS still benefit from Open Gaming Collective improvements? Yes, because the OGC follows an upstream-first policy meaning code improvements like controller bug fixes or Mesa changes get pushed to the original upstream projects rather than kept as permanent forks, eventually reaching non-member distros like CachyOS. However, some tooling such as downstream gamescope forks and ScopeBuddy reach OGC member distros first. _Keep up with how open source collectives share upstream fixes by following the topic on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@khauma** · 4 upvotes > You love to see it! **@20rp** · 3 upvotes > CachyOS users report in 😎 > > > Now if we could just have a way to emulate a virtual kernel to be able to play games like league and valorant again I would be the happiest Linux user ever! /S **@chrisfassl** · 3 upvotes > No surprise, it's just running smoothly! I switched from Windows to Linux a couple of months ago, starting with Pop!_OS. After constantly running into compatibility issues and wonky controls in Steam games, I decided to try out Cachy. Best decision ever! **@agustinbarrientos** · 0 upvotes > One opt-in Steam survey isn't enough for me to trust that ranking yet **@doncho** · 0 upvotes > I was looking for quite a while to find a gaming distro that would run on my ancient ASUS ROG G750JZ notebook, (October 2014). Alas... it seems the only OS that would still enable it for my (equally ancient) gaming would be Windows 10. It does not even want to update to 11 (and I fully agree with it). > > Since I'm happy Steam Deck user (since the very first, preordered Steam Decks), I thought there would be a Linux distro I could snap on the ASUS and be even happier. But no... no luck: GTX 880M's Kepler seems to be the dead end. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [CachyOS skipped the Open Gaming Collective, and gamers rewarded it by making it the top Linux distro on Steam](https://daily.dev/posts/cachyos-skipped-the-open-gaming-collective-and-gamers-rewarded-it-by-making-it-the-top-linux-distro-i3hiyhs8q) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CachyOS proved that SteamOS's biggest limitation isn't the Steam Deck — it's the philosophy behind it](https://daily.dev/posts/cachyos-proved-that-steamos-s-biggest-limitation-isn-t-the-steam-deck-it-s-the-philosophy-behind-i-ymyordnic) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CachyOS — Blazingly Fast OS based on Arch Linux](https://daily.dev/posts/cachyos-blazingly-fast-os-based-on-arch-linux-owvihutie) · Hacker News · 4 upvotes · 1 comments - [A Bunch of Developers Have Come Together to Make Linux Gaming Great](https://daily.dev/posts/a-bunch-of-developers-have-come-together-to-make-linux-gaming-great-hzrt1ib6q) · It's Foss · 4 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#gaming](https://daily.dev/tags/gaming), [#steam](https://daily.dev/tags/steam) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-linux-gaming-distro-that-refused-to-join-the-open-gaming-collective-is-now-dominating-the-steam--f232sehtp) ```json 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Wallace","url":"https://daily.dev/khauma","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--QvppE9Ip--/f_auto/v1767378558/avatars/avatar_7eQFeSQRDx0muV3n92gxT?_a=BAMAK+ZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"CachyOS users report in 😎\nNow if we could just have a way to emulate a virtual kernel to be able to play games like league and valorant again I would be the happiest Linux user ever! /S","datePublished":"2026-08-13T19:50:46.935Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/f232sEHTp#c-oqm8M3l1v","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Arlo Wotherspoon","url":"https://daily.dev/20rp","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/65660355?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"No surprise, it’s just running smoothly! I switched from Windows to Linux a couple of months ago, starting with Pop!_OS. After constantly running into compatibility issues and wonky controls in Steam games, I decided to try out Cachy. Best decision ever!","datePublished":"2026-08-11T09:25:39.174Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/f232sEHTp#c-KVzamOiMN","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris","url":"https://daily.dev/chrisfassl","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"One opt-in Steam survey isn’t enough for me to trust that ranking yet","datePublished":"2026-08-16T05:03:17.157Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/f232sEHTp#c-PRu46BzYT","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Agustin Barrientos","url":"https://daily.dev/agustinbarrientos","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--5ayxQnqn--/f_auto/v1788281802/avatars/avatar_wQYYVe5Tbj0NJ7C7qPoa8?_a=BAMAMicg0"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I was looking for quite a while to find a gaming distro that would run on my ancient ASUS ROG G750JZ notebook, (October 2014). Alas… it seems the only OS that would still enable it for my (equally ancient) gaming would be Windows 10. It does not even want to update to 11 (and I fully agree with it).\nSince I’m happy Steam Deck user (since the very first, preordered Steam Decks), I thought there would be a Linux distro I could snap on the ASUS and be even happier. But no… no luck: GTX 880M’s Kepler seems to be the dead end.","datePublished":"2026-08-16T05:35:50.755Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/f232sEHTp#c-PHcJoh7uR","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Doncho Angelov","url":"https://daily.dev/doncho","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--j1MSm0hy--/f_auto/v1716369534/avatars/avatar_EB0j0Umzh5v3zGWUSL5ma"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-linux-gaming-distro-that-refused-to-join-the-open-gaming-collective-is-now-dominating-the-steam--f232sehtp#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What percentage of Steam users are running CachyOS according to the Steam Hardware Survey?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"CachyOS accounts for 14.31% of users on Valve's Steam Hardware Survey, ranking second overall behind SteamOS Holo at 22.24%. Among OGC member distros, Bazzite trails at 7.73% and Nobara at 1.65%, making CachyOS the top choice among distros users install specifically for gaming rather than ones preinstalled on Valve hardware. Track how Linux gaming distros stack up on daily.dev as adoption numbers shift over time."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why did CachyOS refuse to join the Open Gaming Collective?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"CachyOS founder Peter Jung declined membership because he saw little benefit for the project, worried the collective could become a 'bureaucratic loophole,' and didn't want association with Playtron, the company behind GameOS and the Web3-linked SuiPlay0x1 handheld, a founding OGC member. He was also wary after Bazzite dropped developer Antheas Kapenekakis's Handheld Daemon for InputPlummer amid its OGC alignment. Follow Linux distro governance debates like this one on daily.dev before picking a gaming setup."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Do non-member distros like CachyOS still benefit from Open Gaming Collective improvements?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, because the OGC follows an upstream-first policy meaning code improvements like controller bug fixes or Mesa changes get pushed to the original upstream projects rather than kept as permanent forks, eventually reaching non-member distros like CachyOS. However, some tooling such as downstream gamescope forks and ScopeBuddy reach OGC member distros first. Keep up with how open source collectives share upstream fixes by following the topic on daily.dev."}}]} ```