Just as game streaming giant Steam is tightening Windows support, Microsoft’s Windows 10 dominates the service. Last month, Steam owner Valve announced support for Windows XP and Vista will end January 1, 2019. That hardly matters for Microsoft as Windows 10 continues to monopolize usage numbers.
Windows 10 64-bit recorded a usage share of 57.03% during June. More importantly, the platform continues to increase its position thanks to a 1.5% bump. Over this year, Win10 has caught and surpassed Windows 7 as the most used platform on Steam.
In February, Win7 64-bit held a massive 69.68% of the user base, while Win10 64-bit was at 25.85%. Since then, Microsoft’s newer Windows platform has taken hold of the Steam market. Through June, Windows 7’s usage has dropped to 33.55%.
Still not bad, but it’s good for Microsoft that more gamers are shifting to Windows 10 or more Win10 users are adopting Steam. Either way, the company’s grip on the gaming market is undoubted.
Yes, Valve’s monthly figures only account for Steam, but the results are a microcosm of the wider gaming sphere. Indeed, on Steam Windows has 99.89% of users, with the remaining 0.11% logged as “other”.
While Win10 and Win7 64-bit dominate, older Windows version are still active. For example, Windows 8.1 64-bit has usage numbers of 2.30%.
As mentioned, Valve will cut support for Windows XP and Windows Vista next year. Luckily, this will hardly matter as XP has a lowly 0.21% of users. Vista on the other hand is not even counted and may be included in the “other” bracket.
Windows Mixed Reality Boost
As we discussed earlier today, there was more good Steam-related news for Microsoft in the monthly review. Valve showed that Windows Mixed Reality has increased its user share through the month of June.
Since the April low of 5.04%, Windows Mixed Reality has been improving. In May the service recorded 5.89% usage share before increasing to 6.25% in June.
