alt Hacker NewsOverall agreed. I think a more interesting look at this is the tracker which GamingOnLinux keeps (not yet updated with the new numbers as of writing), where they also have one graph that shows usage among only English speaking users. Overall it is trending upwards, and English Linux Steam users are approaching 9%.
Yes, this is the key. You can account for anomalies such as Lunar New year, do rolling averages and other statistical modelling to show trends.
Saying that one source of data should be discarded because it contains nuance is.. a take.