Skip to main content

More than 60 percent of Steam gamers have finally moved to Windows 10

Razer Blade 2017 review
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Despite trailing Windows 7 in overall market share, Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system is the preferred OS among gamers. Statistics published by online streaming platform Valve revealed that the 64-bit version of Windows 10 accounted for 60.62 percent of the market share on Steam in August, representing an increase of 6.62 percent from a month prior. Microsoft’s Windows operating system commanded a combined market share of 96.44 percent. Valve’s numbers show that Windows 10 is twice as popular as its next closest competitor, Windows 7, which earned a combined 30.93 percent market share for the 32- and 64-bit versions of the operating system.

Only 2.87 percent of Steam gamers use MacOS and 0.59 percent of gamers are playing on a Linux system. The increased adoption of Windows 10 among gamers is likely fueled by upgrades to newer systems with better hardware specifications. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, for example, was the most popular graphics card among users, and the card commands a market share of 13.31 percent among Steam gamers. This represents an increase of 0.81 percent from a year prior. Other popular hardware configurations include a 1080p primary display, quad-core processors, and systems with 8GB of RAM or higher.

Recommended Videos

Migration to Windows 10 has been slower by non-gamers — August statistics published by Net Applications revealed that Windows 10 is installed on 37.8 percent of all personal computers and commands a 43 percent market share when compared with other systems running Windows. In contrast, Windows 7 commanded a 40.3 percent market share against all PCs and 45.9 percent market share compared to other Windows-based systems. Analysts now predict that Windows 10 will supplant Windows 7 as the world’s most popular operating system by as early as October, ComputerWorld reported. Combined, Windows accounted for 88.1 percent of the operating system market share, while MacOS had a market share of 9.17 percent.

Although adoption for Windows 10 has been growing among gamers and non-gamers, businesses and enterprises are still stubbornly sticking to Windows 7. Support for Windows 7 will end in early 2020, and Windows 10 adoption will likely accelerate as that date inches closer.

When Microsoft debuted Windows 10, it had lofty aspirations. The company had a goal of a billion Windows 10 installs in the first three years. Microsoft announced earlier this summer that it was shy of that goal, revealing that its operating system was installed on more than 700 million systems. Microsoft’s numbers include a variety of different devices, including convertibles, laptops, desktops, Xbox gaming consoles, Hololens, and even the now-defunct Windows 10 Mobile platform that was used on the company’s Lumia-branded line of smartphones.

Chuong Nguyen
Silicon Valley-based technology reporter and Giants baseball fan who splits his time between Northern California and Southern…
Microsoft backs off on pressuring Windows 10 users to upgrade
Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating system logos are displayed on laptop screens.

Microsoft has announced that it will ease up the aggressive add tactic to get Windows 10 users to upgrade to Windows 11 after receiving negative backlash from users, as Windows Latest reports. There is no official word on whether stopping the full-screen multipage popups is permanent, but a plan to “share a new timeline in the coming months” was mentioned.

Windows 10 Home users saw these ads, but some Pro and Business users also saw them after rebooting their computers. Regardless of who saw them, the ads’ pause comes as the Windows 10 end-of-life date, October 14, 2025, approaches.

Read more
PC gamers still prefer Windows 10 over Windows 11
A man stands in front of a gaming PC.

Windows 11 saw a decline in the latest Steam hardware and software survey for July 2024. According to Valve's data, gamers using Microsoft's newer operating system dropped below the 46% threshold. Currently, Windows 11 accounts for approximately 45.81% of all Windows users on Steam, marking a decrease of 0.82% from the previous month.

In contrast, Windows 10 experienced an increase of 0.74%, reaching a 50.16% share. Although gaming performance is generally similar on both operating systems, a recent test by Hardware Unboxed reveals that Windows 10 may offer better performance in certain titles due to the core isolation feature, where memory integrity is enabled by default on Windows 11.

Read more
Microsoft is backpedaling on future Windows 10 updates
The Windows Update screen in Windows 10.

Windows 10 is on its way out, with support ending in October 2025. That isn't changing, though Microsoft's approach to rolling out new features in the meantime definitely has. In a surprising move, Microsoft announced in a June 4 Windows Insider Blog post that it is bringing a Beta Channel for those Windows Insiders currently running on Windows 10 version 22H2.

This means that despite the end of support, Windows 10 users will continue to get some new features that were initially restricted to Windows 11, such as the new Copilot app. It's also possible that other features may be on the way, but Microsoft has not released any further information on the subject. It was originally stated that Windows 10 version 22H2 would be its final feature update, but that appears to not be true anymore.

Read more