Windows 11 Adoption Among Gamers Continues To Swell As Windows 10 Loses More Steam
The number of gamers on Steam who are running Windows 11 has grown quite a bit in the past two months, according to the latest Steam hardware and software survey. At this rate, it is conceivable Windows 11 will overtake Windows 10 for the top spot by the end of the year, though it will be interesting to see what Valve's Steam Deck handheld has on the OS breakdown.
Regardless of how it plays out for the full year, Windows 11 is making fast progress in the early going. At the end of November 2021, Windows 11 accounted for 8.28 percent of all Steam gamers, which was nearly a 6.5 percent gain over the previous month. Now two months later, Windows 11 accounts for 13.56 percent of PCs pinged by the survey.
We should note that the Steam survey is not a wholly accurate sum of the gaming landscape at large. For one, only gamers who use Steam are represented. And secondly, not every Steam user is pinged—participation is optional. Plus there are numerous factors that can further skew results in any given month, like if internet cafes in China see an uptick in activity for whatever reason.
Those caveats aside, Steam's monthly surveys are probably the most accurate breakdowns we have of the PC gaming landscape. And what they show is that Windows 11 now sits at 13.56 percent on Steam, which is a not-insignificant 3.41 percent gain from last month, and a 5.28 percent gain in the past two months. By the end of this month, there's a good chance Windows 11 will have doubled its footprint on Steam since November.
Interestingly, Valve's upcoming Steam Deck could slow Windows 11's rapid rise. That's because it's based on Linux. Users have the option of installing Windows 11 on the Steam Deck, but most will probably stick with Proton. We'll have to wait and see how that plays out (developers are already gushing about the Steam Deck, by the way). As things stand, Linux accounts for just over 1 percent of Steam gaming machines (macOS accounts for 2.77 percent).
In the ongoing battle between AMD and Intel, the former continues to chip away at the latter. The latest survey shows AMD at 31.07 percent, which drove Intel below the 69 percent mark (68.93 percent). Obviously there remains a sizable gap, and if Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is to be believed, AMD is now forever in the rearview mirror following the Alder Lake launch.
We're sure AMD doesn't agree with that sentiment. AMD will be launching its Ryzen 7 5800X3D with 3D V-cache to retail this Spring, followed by its Zen 4 launch and AM5 platform in the second half of this year. AMD is likewise confident that it can attain or retain "leadership in every PC segment" when those processors arrive.