Windows 11 market share on Steam dips for the first time

Valve has released the latest Steam Hardware and Software Survey results, revealing interesting tidbits about Microsoft's latest operating system. For the first time since its public debut in October 2021, Windows 11 lost a tiny fraction of its customers on the leading PC gaming platform.

According to Valve, in July 2022, Windows 11 went down from 21.23% to 21.12%, effectively losing 0.11 points. This is the first month of Windows 11 not gaining and even losing its market share on Steam.

Still, users should not think Windows 11 has reached its critical mass or the OS is doomed to failure. Participation in Steam's monthly surveys is optional, so there is always a margin of error. Besides, unlike Windows 10, Microsoft does not force users to upgrade to Windows 11 and allows rolling back to Windows 10, so it is natural to expect a slower climb with periodical dips.

The upcoming Windows 11 22H2 update, rumored to arrive in September 2022, will bring many quality-of-life improvements and some gaming-related features. Expect the OS to become more popular as users upgrade to newer hardware or update existing PCs.

Here are the most popular operating systems in Steam according to the latest Hardware and Software Survey:

1. Windows 10 64-bit - 73.17% (+1.91 point)
2. Windows 11 - 21.12% (-0.11 points)
3. Windows 7 64-bit - 2.04% (-0.97 points)
4. macOS - 1.74% (-0.71 points)
5. Linux - 1.23% (+0.05 points).

Source: Steam

Windows 11 market share on Steam dips for the first time