It’s no secret that PC gamers can get a little bit precious about operating systems. As a case and point, almost three years after the release of Windows 11, it’s only just started to come close to overtaking Windows 10 in the Steam Hardware Survey, despite the free upgrade path.
While Windows 11 is still just short of Windows 10 in terms of its percentage share of Steam users, it’s clear that Windows in general is still the preferred operating system, with a dominant 96.61% share of all systems. This news comes as we also learn that PC gamers are using controllers far more often than in recent years.
In the Steam Hardware Survey for June 2024, the share of users who adopted Windows 11 climbed by 0.55% to 46.63%, while Windows 10 usage dropped by 0.93% to 49.42%. While it may take a few more months for Windows 11 to pass its older sibling based on the current growth rate, it’s a surefire sign that gamers are finally making the jump to the latest Microsoft operating system, whether they like it or not.
Following Microsoft’s decision to phase out security updates for older versions of Windows, Steam no longer supports Windows 7 and 8, forcing gamers into a situation where they have to either run Windows 10 or 11. That’s effectively made this a two-horse race for the moment, but it’s still interesting to see Windows 10 continuing to dominate for so long after the release of Windows 11.
As DirectStorage is adopted by more games, I expect that the shift towards Windows 11 will increase, as it works best on Microsoft’s latest operating system. This technology is designed to improve in-game loading times when it’s enabled, and requires an SSD (ideally NVMe) and a GPU that supports DirectX12 and Shader Model 6.0.
Will Windows 12 release before 11 takes over from 10 in the hardware survey? It’s unlikely but we’re keen to see more from the next iteration of Windows including an approximate release date.