Last month, it was revealed that Windows 10 is being used by nearly 47% of Steam gamers in the world. Now, the latest report from Valve claims that this number has grown even further and accounts for almost 49% of Steam users. The hardware statistics released by the company indicate that Windows 10 64-bit is being utilized by 47.44% of gamers, while the 32-bit version in being used by 1.51%, making a total of 48.95%.
The 64-bit version of the OS saw a 2.77% increase compared to last month; however, the 32-bit version faced a decline of 0.07%. Similarly, all other iterations of the OS faced a steady decline with Windows 7 occupying a spot as the second most used system, followed by Windows 8.1. Overall, Windows is being used by 95.71% of Steam users, a minor increase of 0.01% as compared to last month.
OS X faced a decline of 0.03% as compared to the previous month too, and now sits at a 3.34% userbase. Usage of all versions of the operating system waned except OS X 10.11.6 which noted a considerable increase of 1.08%, climbing to 1.28%.
Same as last month, Linux saw an increase of 0.02% in Steam"s marketshare as well. All versions of the operating system grew in userbase, and now account for 0.83% of Steam gamers.
Meanwhile, hardware preferences remained more or less the same as the previous report. 8GB of RAM is still the most used system configuration, accompanied by 1GB of VRAM. Primary display resolution on a single monitor remains 1920x1080 and the resolution on a multi-monitor setup still rests at 3840x1080.
With the free Windows 10 upgrade offer now expired, it is very interesting to see the OS"s marketshare on Steam still climbing. With that being said, Steam"s monthly hardware statistics report is based upon surveys so it may not accurately depict the situation. However, it has been regularly used as a metric and analysis technique for quite some time. Based on the monthly reports, it is important to note that commanding nearly half of the Steam user base while toppling Windows 7 as the primary OS for gaming in slightly more than a year is a commendable feat on its own.