Steam August 2024 Survey: Windows 11 Usage Rate Exceeded 50%

Results of Steam’s August 2024 Hardware and Software Survey

The results of Steam’s August 2024 hardware and software survey have been published, revealing a significant increase in the popularity of Windows 11 among users on the gaming platform. Windows 11 is now preferred by more than 50% of Steam users. With a 3.36% increase from the previous month, this rate has reached 50.81%. This indicates that Microsoft’s newer operating system, Windows 11, is gaining popularity among gamers.

Of course, the success of Windows 11 necessitates a loss in market share for another operating system. In this regard, the operating system that experienced the biggest loss is Windows 10, which is nearly ten years old. Windows 10’s user share on Steam has decreased by 3.29%, falling to 48.66%. This situation reflects that users are in search of a newer and safer experience.

Among other operating systems, Windows 7 ranks third with a share of 0.38% (-0.05), while Windows 8.1 takes the fourth place with a share of 0.07% (-0.01). The remaining share of 0.08% from other Windows versions, which saw a total decline of 0.01%, indicates that older operating systems are becoming less preferred.

The low market share of the long unsupported Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 versions is actually a quite positive development. This is because, since these operating systems have lost security support, it has become essential for users of these systems to transition to more up-to-date alternatives. Windows 7 SP1 lost its security support in January 2020, while Windows 8.1 lost its support in January 2023. Therefore, it is recommended that users on operating systems that do not receive security updates at least switch to Windows 10 or a reliable alternative system like Linux Mint.