Wednesday, August 7th 2024
Steam Survey July 2024 Update: Windows 10 Usage Records Uptick, Windows 11 Drops
Interesting things are happening in the gaming community, as Windows 10 operating system has seen an increase in its user base on the Steam platform, while Windows 11 has dipped below the 46% mark for the first time since its launch. According to the latest July data from Steam's hardware and software survey, Windows 10's share rose to 47.69%, marking a significant uptick that contrasts with Windows 11's decline to 45.73%. This trend highlights a growing preference among gamers for the older operating system, which is often praised for its stability and compatibility with a wide range of games and hardware. Many users have expressed concerns over Windows 11's performance and its stringent hardware requirements, which have made it less accessible for some gamers, especially those without the TPM 2.0-enhanced system.
The shift in user demographics is particularly interesting given that Windows 11 was designed with gaming enhancements in mind, including features like DirectStorage and Auto HDR. However, the adoption rate appears to be hampered by issues related to compatibility and performance, leading many gamers to stick with the more familiar and reliable Windows 10. This trend could prompt Microsoft to reevaluate its approach to Windows 11, particularly in terms of addressing user concerns and enhancing compatibility with existing hardware. Other OSes are seeing stagnation, especially with Linux-based distributions recording zero change. Apple's OSX stands at 1.37%, a +0.06% increase from last month.
Sources:
Steam Survey, via NotebookCheck
The shift in user demographics is particularly interesting given that Windows 11 was designed with gaming enhancements in mind, including features like DirectStorage and Auto HDR. However, the adoption rate appears to be hampered by issues related to compatibility and performance, leading many gamers to stick with the more familiar and reliable Windows 10. This trend could prompt Microsoft to reevaluate its approach to Windows 11, particularly in terms of addressing user concerns and enhancing compatibility with existing hardware. Other OSes are seeing stagnation, especially with Linux-based distributions recording zero change. Apple's OSX stands at 1.37%, a +0.06% increase from last month.
56 Comments on Steam Survey July 2024 Update: Windows 10 Usage Records Uptick, Windows 11 Drops
I've been tracing those records for three years and found that those models (among GPUs) which take less than 0.15% don't show up at all, and there are almost seasonal huge changes in manufacturer percentages (this month one grows and next month it falls back to normal). I don't think that's explainable or believable. What? All their users unplug or plug together at the same time monthly?
Yeah, their reaction will be to have their offshore coders put in more Ads and Telemetry to "Fix" it, then not test any of those new "features" before releasing it in a major new "update"
How to explain these spikes (which take place per 5 to 6 months on average)? Some users had a discussion to jump to one side and jump to the other the next month?
Look at this. This is currently the only one with 0.15% barrier displayed. Back a year ago, RX 6600 XT, 6600 and other RDNA 2-based cards and even some others encountered this BS. How to understand this? 0.15% of users bought this model together in the same month and sold it together the next month? That is totally nonsense.
Google Win 10/11 adoption figures in general you will find that the majority are staying on Win 10 even after years of Win 11 being around and the upcoming end of extended support planned next year for Win 10.
Let's hope M$ learns finally, and releases Windows 12 in a way it released Windows XP, Windows 7 or Windows 10..
But this certainly doesn't justify what I found weird. If explained your way, it's even weirder - the same group of people try not to participate at the same time?
I do not agree with that statement, but whatever.Not everyone games with steam with decent hardware.
My main operating system is Gnu Gentoo Linux. I decided before 2006 to keep my private stuff and life separated from the mediocre, "secure", stable, gaming platform Windows.
I do game with the EPIC Game store on Windows 11 Pro. I hardly use steam, except when claiming free games. I dislike the steam launcher. Sometimes i play GOG.com games. EA Launcher / Kalypso Launcher / Ubisoft Launcher are also on my W11Pro Box for only one game each. there is no other way to claim stuff except to have the steam launcher installed.
I used to play in gnu linux with steam - the performance was worse.
I also had some late Android Gaming years also.
It'd be better for Steam (for data clarity) to ask for a permanent permission to grab users' system specs every month and not ask each time. I mean, yes, it is really nice of Steam that is always asks whether user want to participate in the survey and share system specs but then such spikes may occur and data is less relevant (unless normalized). By asking for permanent permission I don't mean that the user wouldn't be able to cancel the permission later somewhere in the settings.From having everything stored somewhere in the cloud, there's just a short step to completely transform Windows to a service that requires permanent internet connection, that does computational work somewhere in the cloud, and let's you access computed data and various services based on your monthly fee. (Something like nVidia's GeForce now but on the OS scale.) ARM is a way to go, let's sell to people $700 laptops equipped with $100 smartphone-like SoC, so that they are able to connect to MS servers and MS will take it from there. I hope this idea will remain a conspiracy and never become reality.
Like MS could do a lot better in promoting it, maybe work with some youtubers to promote new updates it has and what it can offer people? idk its just weird, its just...there...for me atleast, but why would I put in the effort of upgrading and learning where everything lives now?
Windows = planned obsolescence in full force.
But main Windows OS is still Win10 and it will be as long as it's supported (and maybe above and beyond that via also LTSC version :D )
Noise is very common in timeseries data. Which is why we typically further process them to get any meaningful info. Heck! The ton ofcommon, smoothing algorithms used for such series are made with much, much noisier data in mind.
To me, those graphs look pretty clean. Don't need to squint too hard to guess a simple linear regression would yield lines with very small slopes (i.e. very small change with time).
W10 dropped the control over WU, it got completely dumbed down, because they know what's best for you. You know, Windows updating and restarting became a problem all of a sudden, for a LOT of people.
It was a HUGE drawback, and seemingly a fact people seems to have forgotten in this thread, and no, you don't have to explain why MS did it, or workarounds.
I am still workin on getting Windows Server 2022 to be a gaming box. Because I love that server 2022 you can uninstall completely Windows Defender it saves over 1 GB of ram
If Steam would add some damn filters and region specific data, we would all have a better sense of what's going on. Instead they lump all the data into one large spreadsheet.