A lot of PC users aren’t keen to transition to Windows 11, and gamers seem to be one of the biggest groups of holdouts. But according to the latest Steam survey results, more Steam players are now using Windows 11 than any other operating system.
Specifically, 49.17 percent of the installed Steam user base is on Windows 11 versus 47.09 percent for Windows 10 (as of August 2024). All versions of Windows combine for almost 97 percent of the market, with Linux installations (presumably including SteamOS on the Steam Deck) accounting for 1.92 percent and macOS trailing at 1.3 percent.
Note: These are just the operating systems used by Steam users, not the total desktop and laptop market, where Windows still dominates but only has 71.47 percent of all users, according to StatCounter.
Getting over the Steam hump might be a bigger deal than it first appears for Microsoft. Based on this data, we can’t break down which users are voluntarily updating older Windows 10 machines to Windows 11 as opposed to buying new PCs with Windows 11 pre-installed. But as PCGamer points out, it took Windows 11 almost three years to hit this milestone while Windows 10 crossed the same point in under one year.
In fact, we’re now only a year and change away from Windows 10’s official end-of-service date — something tells me it’ll take a lot longer for Windows 10 to fade from these statistics, as Windows 8 (0.07 percent) and Windows 7 (0.37 percent) have.
Perhaps that’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, though, as Windows 10 was coming off an unpopular release with users eager to jump to a more comfortable operating system, while Windows 11 is more or less the opposite with lots of users sticking with Windows 10 for a variety of reasons. But whatever people’s motivations, Microsoft is feeling pressure to get users onto Windows 11 ASAP. Maybe speeding out those updates that improve the performance of the latest processors will help.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.