Windows 11 overtakes Windows 10 among gamers for the first time ever
Microsoft formally launched Windows 11 in October 2021, but ever since then, the new operating system has been having a hard time winning over users. Despite seeing many additions with the recent updates, Windows 10 has held the higher global market share, with StatCounter reporting that the last-gen OS currently holds 63.96% of global users.
Windows 11, on the other hand, has a global market share of 32.41%. However, the story is a little different among gamers. The new operating system has been chasing Windows 10 closely in Steam hardware survey reports from the past few months, and per the latest report, it has finally managed to outscore it.
To be exact, according to the Steam hardware survey report from August, Windows 11 is currently installed on the systems of 49.17% of total Steam users. Windows 10, in comparison, is on the systems of 47.09% of the users. While the global data from StatCounter doesn't indicate the same, it does show that the newer OS has seen steady growth in the past few months.
For example, in April of this year, Windows 11 had 26.19% of the global market share. Compared to that, 32.41% in September is a noticeable jump. As for the other operating systems, macOS and Linux have stayed largely the same throughout the recent Steam hardware survey reports.
Worth noting that Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 10 in October 2025. This would mean that the operating system will stop receiving any updates, which include both feature and security updates. However, future games should still be compatible, and it's likely that many will still not upgrade to Windows 11 after that. After all, Microsoft has strict hardware restrictions for it, and not many gamers would upgrade their whole system just to install a new operating system.
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