Valve’s monthly Steam Hardware & Software Survey has quietly become one of the clearest early indicators of how the PC ecosystem is shifting—and the most recent snapshots show Windows 11 firmly in the lead on Steam while Windows 10 still keeps a meaningful foothold among active gamers. )
Background / Overview
The Steam Hardware & Software Survey is a voluntary, anonymized telemetry snapshot Valve publishes every month to show what operating systems, GPUs, CPUs, memory, and other components Steam clients are using. It isn’t a census of all PCs, but it is a high‑value signal for the gaming segment because Steam’s audience skews toward enthusiast hardware and frequent upgrades. Valve’s own survey pages describe the methodology and note the sampling limitations, making it best read as a gamer‑centric trend line rather than a universal market share measure.
Across late 2024 and through 2025 the Steam data shows a clear migration: Windows 11 climbed from near parity with Windows 10 to an outright lead on Steam and then widened that margin as the market responded to product upgrades, OEM shipments, and Microsoft’s end‑of‑support calendar for Windows 10. Independent reporting and multiple snapshots of Valve’s own pages back this up — November–December 2024 saw Windows 11 pass Windows 10 on Steam, and by late 2025 Windows 11 represented a strong majority of Steam clients in Valve’s tables.
What the Steam numbers actually say
The headline figures (Steam-focused)
- November 2024: Valve’s survey showed Windows 11 rising to roughly 51.97% of Steam users in that snapshot, with Windows 10 at about 45.95% — a reversal from earlier months when Windows 10 led or the two were close. That month marked an all‑time high for Windows 11 on Steam to that point.
- December 2024: independent captures of the survey showed Windows 11 consolidating further (reports placed it in the low‑ to mid‑50s) while Windows 10 trended lower.
- Through 2025: Valve’s official survey pages show Windows 11 continuing to gain share on Steam and reaching large majority numbers in the months after Windows 10’s end‑of‑support period. For example, by October–November 2025 Valve reported Windows 11 in the mid‑60s percent range among Steam clients while Windows 10 declined into the high‑20s/low‑30s.
Why these Steam numbers matter (and their limits)
- They matter because Steam’s population is an early‑adopter, hardware‑aware subset; when OS features tangibly affect gaming (DirectStorage, driver support, new GPUs, handhelds like the Steam Deck), gamers often upgrade faster than general consumers.
- They have limits because the Survey is optional, web‑centric and skewed by region, device type, and Steam’s particular audience. It does not measure enterprise or embedded installs, and it weights active Steam users rather than the installed base of all Windows devices. Valve explicitly cautions readers to interpret the data as a snapshot of Steam clients.
Why Windows 11 is leading on Steam
Feature and performance drivers
Windows 11 went to market with a number of gaming‑focused capabilities and system‑level modernizations that appeal to gamers and hardware enthusiasts:
- DirectStorage support for faster streaming from NVMe SSDs to the GPU, reducing load times and enabling richer streaming of assets.
- Auto HDR and other graphics/UX improvements that make modern hardware produce better visuals with less fiddling.
- Closer integration with Xbox ecosystem features (Game Bar, Game Pass overlays) that simplify access to services gameres, together with regular updates targeted at gaming performance, made Windows 11 an attractive option for players who buy new hardware or prioritize game performance. Multiple outlets noted that feature parity and optimizations helped accelerate adoption among gamers in late 2024 and through 2025.
Calendar pressure: Windows 10 end of support
Microsoft’s official end‑of‑support date for Windows 10 (October 14, 2025) is the clearest external deadline that pushed a segment of the user base off the older OS. That announcement created urgency for security‑conscious gamers and organizations that must maintain supported software stacks, and it accelerated upgrades and OEM shipments that landed machines preinstalled with Windows 11. Observers and Valve’s post‑EOL snapshots show a clear uptick in migration around that event.
Hardware refresh cycles and OEM behavior
PC builders and OEMs shipped more Windows 11 systems as new silicon and boards rolled out; many new consumer and gaming systems in 2024–2025 shipped with Windows 11 by default. When gamers refresh systems for new GPUs, CPUs, or SSDs, they often accept the newer OS that comes with the hardware, further accelerating Steam’s Windows 11 share. Industry trackers and Valve’s processor/GPU breakdowns underline that Steam’s sample tends to tilt toward newer, upgradeable hardware.
Why Windows 10 still holds ground — and why that matters
Installed base inertia
Despite the Steam‑centric migration,
Windows 10 retained a large installed base across general desktop computing through 2024–2025. Global web‑panel trackers such as StatCounter showed Windows 10 still commanding a substantial share of desktop pageviews for months after Windows 11’s introduction — and enterprise fleets, OEM lifecycles, and long replacement intervals mean Windows 10 persisted well into 2025 and beyond in many pockets. StatCounter snapshots through mid‑2025 show Windows 10 remaining dominant in the broader desktop market even as Steam skewed toward Windows 11.
Hardware compatibility and user friction
Windows 11’s stricter minimums (TPM 2.0, certain CPU families, Secure Boot expectations) have left a meaningful set of machines unable to upgrade without firmware tweaks or unofficial workarounds. For gamers with older but perfectly capable rigs, the perceived upgrade cost sometimes exceeds the benefit, especially when Windows 10 was still receiving security updates up to the EOL date. That technical friction slowed some users’ transition and kept Windows 10 relevant on Steam and elsewhere. Independent coverage and community reports repeatedly highlighted these barriers.
Enterprise and content‑creation conservatism
Enterprises and pro creative users — groups that sometimes intersect with gamers who also stream or develop — often delay OS migrations until compatibility is proven across mission‑critical apps, drivers, and security stacks. Those purchasing and refresh cycles keep Windows 10 alive in business fleets longer than the consumer cadence alone would imply. This created a two‑track reality: newer consumer and gaming hardware mostly moved to Windows 11, while significant enterprise and older hardware populations remained on Windows 10 through the transition period.
What it means for gamers, developers and IT managers
For gamers
- Expectation: New titles and engine updates will increasingly target Windows 11 as a first‑class platform for the latest platform optimizations, although most major titles will remain compatible with Windows 10 for some time.
- Risk: Upgrade friction (compatibility, driver issues) can cause headaches; blind upgrades before checking GPU drivers or anti‑cheat compatibility are a common source of problems.
- Advice: Before upgrading, back up data, verify driver support from your GPU vendor, and check game‑specific anti‑cheat guidance. If you depend on tournament or competitive setups, test the upgrade on a secondary drive first.
For developers (game studios, middleware vendors)
- Opportunity: Windows 11’s modern features (DirectStorage, better DX12 support) unlock possibilities for faster load times and richer streaming assets, which can be marketed as quality‑of‑life improvements.
- Responsibility: Maintain Windows 10 compatibility for a window of time — Steam’s sample shows there will still be millions of players on Windows 10 during migration. Ensuring fallbacks and graceful degradations is essential to avoid fracturing your player base.
- Checklist: Test builds on both OSes, include explicit anti‑cheat guidance, and ensure installer/patch processes are robust for both environments.
For IT managers and PC builders
- Security imperative: With Windows 10 EOL enforced, security posture requires either migration to Windows 11, enrollment in Extended Security Updates where available, or rigorous compensating controls.
- Procurement: Align refresh cycles with OS support windows; consider hardware compatibility lists to minimize last‑minute surprises when upgrading large fleets.
- Process: Use staged rollouts, pilot groups, and clear rollback plans. Document driver and firmware baselines and automate imaging where possible.
Deeper analysis: strengths, blind spots and risks
Strengths in the Windows 11 migration story
- Feature alignment with gaming needs — Microsoft’s inclusion of DirectStorage and other DX12 optimizations gave an immediate, tangible benefit in gaming contexts, which translated into adoption momentum. Observers and the Steam data both reflect that technical advantages matter for early adopters.
- Clear policy deadlines — Microsoft’s Windows 10 EOL date provided a predictable policy lever that accelerated migration for security‑conscious users and organizations. The presence of that hard deadline is a rare, compelling cause for many users to act.
- Ecosystem push — OEMs shipping Windows 11 on new hardware and game developers optimizing for newer APIs create a reinforcing loop that favors the latest OS among gamers.
Blind spots and methodological caveats
- Sampling bias: Steam’s Survey samples active Steam clients and thus over‑indexes toward gamers and enthusiasts. The result can mislead readers who assume Steam figures equate to global installed base percentages. Valve states this limitation in its own survey metadata.
- Regional and device skew: The Steam population varies significantly by region and device (desktop vs. handheld). Takeaways that ignore those differences risk overgeneralizing.
- Temporal volatility: Monthly swings can look dramatic when a portion of the population performs upgrades or OEMs ship a wave of new systems. Short‑term headlines sometimes overstate long‑term shifts.
Potential risks going forward
- Fragmentation risk: If Microsoft continues to push features that only work on Windows 11, developers may eventually face difficult decisions about when to drop Windows 10 support — a move that risks alienating parts of the installed base and complicating QA and support.
- Trust and perception: Windows 11’s stricter hardware requirements and early controversies around UI changes and telemetry have raised concerns about user trust. A sustained PR or quality problem could slow adoption even if technical benefits exist. Recent coverage showing swelling Windows 11 numbers followed by reports of user dissatisfaction points to this fragility.
- Security and compatibility cliffs: Organizations that delay migration until after EOL may face sudden compatibility issues with newer drivers or games that target Windows 11 features, and gamers who ignore driver or anti‑cheat updates risk being locked out of competitive play.
Tactical checklist: how to prepare (gamers, devs, IT)
- Verify hardware compatibility
- Check your CPU/firmware/TPM status and whether your motherboard vendor provides firmware to meet Windows 11 requirements.
- Back up and image
- Create a full system image before any OS upgrade to enable rollback without data loss.
- Stage updates
- Use a spare drive or partition to test Windows 11 with your critical games and apps before committing.
- Vet drivers and anti‑cheat
- Confirm GPU, peripheral, and anti‑cheat vendor support; keep a driver rollback plan handy.
- For developers: maintain dual‑target builds
- Keep Windows 10 testing in your CI pipeline for a transition window; use feature‑gating where Windows 11 exclusive features are optional.
- For IT managers: define an upgrade policy
- Prioritize high‑risk, internet‑exposed endpoints for migration and consider Extended Security Updates (ESU) where budget and policy permit.
The rise of alternatives and the long tail
While Windows still dominates Steam (Windows combined often exceeds ~94% in Valve’s tables), Linux and macOS have non‑zero upward trends. Linux — including SteamOS variants used on Steam Deck and in gaming‑oriented distros — inched upward through 2024–2025, helped by Proton improvements and Valve’s own devices. However, these alternatives remain small relative to Windows and face persistent barriers (anti‑cheat, AAA support, driver maturity) that limit mainstream migration rates in the short term. Observers that track the Steam survey note the gradual-but-real growth of Linux on Steam, especially among handheld and SteamOS users.
What to watch next
- Valve’s monthly Steam survey remains the fastest public bgaming ecosystem is shifting; watch for continuing month‑to‑month momentum or any reversals tied to major updates, hardware shortages, or Microsoft policy changes. The official Valve pages provide the raw monthly tables that reporters and analysts use to verify claims.
- StatCounter and similar web‑panel trackers are the complementary view: they measure web‑traffic‑weighted desktop usage and will show broader market transitions outside the Steam audience. Use both types of trackers together for a more complete picture.
- Anti‑cheat and driver vendor support will be the practical gating items for many gamers; any large‑scale incompatibility could blunt Windows 11 adoption or force developer accommodations.
Final analysis: a pragmatic view
Valve’s Steam Hardware & Software Survey shows a clear truth for the gaming segment:
Windows 11 has moved from optional to mainstream on Steam, driven by feature benefits, hardware refresh cycles, and a decisive policy calendar around Windows 10 support. That trend is real and meaningful for developers, hardware vendors, and gamers who prioritize performance and modern features.
At the same time,
Windows 10’s resilience matters. The broader desktop market — especially enterprise fleets and older hardware users — did not flip overnight. StatCounter and other trackers show Windows 10 retained substantial share in the general desktop population during the same period that Steam skewed to Windows 11. This two‑track reality increases complexity for developers and IT teams that must support both environments during the transition.
The migration is therefore best seen as an overlapping wave: an early, gamer‑centric surge visible in Valve’s Survey followed by a slower, more measured migration across the wider desktop market. For most readers — gamers, devs, or IT managers — the practical takeaway is the same: plan for compatibility, test thoroughly, and use Valve’s monthly tables alongside broader trackers to make measured, risk‑aware decisions about upgrading or targeting Windows 11‑exclusive features.
Quick reference: essential data points
- Steam (Nov 2024 snapshot): Windows 11 ~51.97%, Windows 10 ~45.95% (Steam Survey).
- Valve (Oct–Nov 2025 snapshots): Windows 11 reported in the mid‑60s percentage range among Steam clients; Windows 10 correspondingly lower in the high‑20s/low‑30s.
- StatCounter (mid‑2025): Windows 10 retained a strong share in the global desktop market even as Windows 11 approached parity and then overtook it later in 2025 depending on the dataset. Use StatCounter’s desktop Windows Version chart for daily trends.
The migration is already reshaping the PC gaming landscape — not as a sudden rupture but as a multi‑stage transition driven by features, hardware lifecycles, and support calendars. For participants in that landscape, the practical questions are no longer
if to plan for Windows 11, but
how and
when to do so safely and without fragmenting players or users in the process.
Source: Windows Report
https://windowsreport.com/valves-st...-still-leading-windows-10-holding-its-ground/