After making a notable jump in January 2024, Windows 11 lost some of its gaming audience, at least according to Valve. The company published the results of its monthly Steam Hardware & Software Survey, showing platform-average software and hardware preferences among those regularly playing PC games.
The February 2024 report shows that Windows 11 is currently installed on 41.96% of all users who agreed to share their PC specs with Valve. That is a 2.28-point decrease over one month and a 9.9-point increase year-over-year. Keep in mind that participation in the survey is optional, plus Valve randomly selects its participants. Therefore, the data is not 100% accurate, but it is enough to show platform-average results and general trends.
As for Windows 10, it is still number one, even though the gap between the two operating systems is steadily closing. In February 2024, Windows 10 gained 2.76 points on Steam, going back to 54.19%. Of course, there are still those who access Steam on older and now-unsupported Windows versions. 64-bit Windows 7 has 0.57% (-0.02) and 64-bit Windows 8.1 has 0.09% (-0.04).
- Windows 10 - 54.19% (+2.76)
- Windows 11 - 41.96% (-2.28)
- Windows 7 - 0.57% (-0.02)
- Windows 8.1 - 0.09% (-0.04)
Overall, Windows holds 96.91% of all Steam users (+0.39).
Here is what was happening on the hardware side in February 2024.
| Steam Hardware Survey - February 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Processors | Intel | AMD | Microsoft |
| 67.91% (+2.21) | 32.05% (-2.20) | 0.04% (-0.01) | |
| CPU Cores | 6 cores | 4 cores | 8 cores |
| 34.12% (+2.48) | 20.49% (-2.00) | 20.15% (-0.74) | |
| Memory | 16GB | 32GB | 8GB |
| 49.04% (-0.56) | 27.19% (+3.48) | 12.19% (-1.48) | |
| GPU Models | NVIDIA RTX 3060 | NVIDIA GTX 1650 | NVIDIA RTX 2060 |
| 6.00% (+1.17) | 4.11% (-0.42) | 4.00% (+0.60) | |
| Video Memory | 8GB | 12GB | 6GB |
| 34.03% (+2.24) | 17.12% (+2.08) | 15.48% (+0.18) | |
| Display Resolution | 1920 x 1080 | 2560 x 1440 | 1366 x 768 |
| 58.82% (-0.88) | 18.99% (+2.97) | 3.56% (-0.45) | |
You can find more information on the official Steam website.