I've switched to 100% Linux at home due to Steam Play. All of my Windows games (except 2) work perfectly on it. I really hope Valve keeps improving it, it has the potential to be a game changer for Linux gaming.

Your comment is the perfect example of how there's an "invisible" demand demand for gaming on Linux.

Nobody can see it, because those who want it will mostly make do with Windows.

+1.

Personally, I spend 98% of my time in Linux, but I dual-boot just for the sake of the few games I like that need Windows to run. If not for that, I'd have dropped Windows years ago.

I haven't logged my hours, but substitute 98% above with whatever my number is (90+%). I don't even have Windows installed on my main, but older, desktop. I just have it on my newer laptop, which is where I do any gaming of significance (when I have time nowadays).

Invisible demand is undistinguishable from no demand, as far as B2C is concerned.

I agree that they can't distinguish it but there was no visible demand for an iPhone before the iPhone.

Only if we forget about the work done by Symbian, Psion, Microsoft, Compaq, Dell in portable Touch devices.

How did the demand work out for Symbian, Psion, and Microsoft phones?

Pretty well in Europe and Asia, until a certain company in Mountain View decided to screw Sun and offer a mobile OS for free to OEMs., in exchange for user data.

People forget that Windows Mobile 5 and 6 unseated Palm to become the sales leader in smartphones in the mid-2000s, shortly before the iPhone came along and blew them and everybody else out of the water.

Not true. Invisible demand is a potential market and a bunch of prospects in waiting.

However that niche is way too small to be worth it.

For all the prophets out there: no one stops you to build a business for that "invisible demand". Let's see how you can predict the market.

This happens all the time. Some endeavours fail, other succeed. Some are more likely to succeed or fail than other and some succeed or fail unexpectedly.

Nothing to do with prophecies though.

Not every demand can be fulfilled, no matter what.

I'm in the same boat. I'd love to be done with windows but since I spend a large amount of my free time playing games with friends I need to be on windows.

Despite the problems and shortcomings, I'm actually pretty impressed with how well Valve has managed to make Linux gaming work over the past decade. Of course, a lot of credit is also due to other contributors to the WINE project, but Valve used Steam to create a targetable set of dependencies for native games in addition to their WINE contributions. I'm frankly a bit amazed that they solved that part of the problem. And a bit disappointed in the people blaming them for not somehow solving the GPU problem by continuing to push Steam Machines no one was buying anyway.

For me, the gaming situation on Linux has become tolerable enough that, in comparison to Microsoft's Windows 10 bullshit, it is no longer a barrier. However there are several other barriers that are unlikely to be dealt with any time soon.