When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

More gamers are switching to Windows 11, according to Valve

A Steam logo with Windows 11s default walppaper in the background

The results of Valve's Hardware & Software Survey for May 2025 are here, showing the continuous increase of Windows 11's market share among gamers. Last month, Windows 11 gained 0.46 points and reached a new all-time high of 58.3%. Microsoft's latest operating system has outpaced Windows 10 for several months, and the latter now lags behind with 37%. In one month, Windows 10 lost 1.09 points as it gets closer to the end of support in October 2025.

Despite its age and unsupported status, Windows 7 still has enough users to show up on Valve's stat gauges. 0.10% of all Windows users who participated in the survey in May reported using Windows 7, even though Steam no longer receives updates on the operating system. While it still works, Windows 7 users could lose access to their libraries at any moment. The worst part is that now, with the free upgrade path from Windows 7 to Windows 10 closed, the only way is to purchase a new computer or a Windows 10 key.

Overall, Windows holds an overwhelming 95.45% of all Steam users (-0.65 points). Linux is second with 2.69% (+0.42 points), and macOS is third with 1.85% (+0.23%). While no one expects Linux to bite off a significant portion of Windows' pie any time soon, if ever, there is a growing discontent with the quality of gaming experience on Windows compared to Linux, especially on handheld devices. A recent report revealed that Microsoft even hit the pause button on its handheld console to make Windows gaming better.

On the hardware side, the most popular PC configuration has 16GB of RAM (43%), a 6-core CPU (29.79%), an Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics card (4.56%), 8GB of VRAM (33.67%), and a 1080p monitor (55.35%). On the GPU side, Nvidia has a whopping 74.18% share, while AMD has 17.62%, and Intel is third with 7.85%. AMD does better on the processor side, though. While Intel still trumps its rival with a 59.69% share, AMD is pretty close with a 40.31% share.

You can find more stats on the official Steam Hardware and Software Survey here.

Report a problem with article
Steam
Next Article

SteamOS falls to lowest adoption level in years as Steam on Linux use rises

A YouTube frown on a dark background
Previous Article

Google confirms more ads on your paid YouTube Premium Lite soon

Join the conversation!

Login or Sign Up to read and post a comment.

8 Comments - Add comment