Windows 10 usage on Steam dropped for last two months in a row

1 min. read

Published on March 2, 2017

published on March 2, 2017

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Steam has just published its latest hardware survey for the month of February, which shows that Windows 10 usage is now down for two months in a row. After reaching a 50.35% OS share back in December, the new OS has fallen to 48.77% last month (down 0.9% points) while Windows 7 rose to 36.81 (+1.7% points) in the same period. Actually, the seven years-old OS was the only version of Windows that saw its usage grow in February.

Steam hardware survey february 2017 — Steam hardware survey, February 2017.

Windows 10 still remains the most popular OS on Steam by quite a large margin, but this trend is quite worrying for Microsoft. Yesterday, we also reported that Windows 10 global market share fell to 25.19% last month according to NetMarketShare, who saw Windows 7 rise to 48.41% in the same period.

Microsoft may still has some Windows 10 tricks up its sleeves to win back Steam gamers in the coming months, such as the Game Mode feature that will debut with the Creators Update in April. Windows Insiders can already test the setting which gives games priority access to system resources, and gamers should probably expect Microsoft to bang the Game Mode drum quite loudly in the coming months.

Radu Tyrsina

Radu Tyrsina has been a Windows fan ever since he got his first PC, a Pentium III (a monster at that time). For most of the kids of his age, the Internet was an amazing way to play and communicate with others, but he was deeply impressed by the flow of information and how easily you can find anything on the web. Prior to founding Windows Report, this particular curiosity about digital content enabled him to grow a number of sites that helped hundreds of millions reach faster the answer they're looking for.