We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Windows 11 reaches new gaming PC adoption milestone

Microsoft will no doubt be pleased as Windows 11 now accounts for around a quarter of the gaming PC population on Steam, just before its one year anniversary

The Windows 11 floral logo appears on a gaming monitor (left), with periperhals (below) and a desktop (right) surrounding it, against a blue background

It may be hard to believe, but the Windows 11 one year anniversary is fast approaching and the number of users adopting the newest operating system from Microsoft shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, the OS has just achieved a new gaming PC adoption milestone.

According to the Steam Hardware and Software Survey: August 2022, a quarter of the gaming PC population running a Microsoft operating system are now using Windows 11, 24.71% to be exact. Its share among Windows users grew by 2.94% this month, and it’s enjoying an impressive showing across the entirety of Valve’s platform too.

However, it still has a long way to go before it overtakes its predecessor, with Windows 10 occupying a comfortable 71.76% market share even after a 3.65% decline. Time is most certainly on the side of Windows 11 though, as the dominant operating system only has another three years ahead of it before Microsoft ends support for it.

The impending Windows 11 update 22H2 could draw more users to the platform, but its features such as Auto HDR and DirectStorage that should more obviously benefit gamers. If you’re hoping to make the most of the latter, make sure you’ve plugged the best SSD for gaming you can find with a PCIe 5.0 or 4.0 interface into your system.