14 DAY TRIAL // While Windows Vista was not exactly welcomed with opened arms by either gamers or game developers, the same is not the case when it comes down to Windows 7. According to the statistics centralized for the Steam online gaming platform, Windows 7 is nothing short of a hit with the gaming community, at just a few months after the operating system hit store shelves on October 22, 2009.
Microsoft has been applauding Windows 7 as the fastest selling Windows operating system in history, but data from Steam indicates that the platform’s uptake among gamers is especially high (via WinFuture).
32-bit (x86) Windows XP is still the gaming platform of choice for PC users, with no less than 44.77% of gamers still running the operating system; however, as is the case with the rest of the OS market, XP is also on a downward trend when it comes down to users that leverage the OS for gaming. In December 2009, 32-bit XP had dropped by 3.20% compared to the previous month. 32-bit Vista is runner up in gamers’ preferences with a share of 20.71%, but also down 0.27% since the previous month.
Windows 7 has already managed to climb to the third position as the most used platform for gaming with a share of 15.61%. And what is extremely interesting is the fact that with the latest iteration of Windows, gamers seem to be opting for 64-bit (x64) architectures, rather than for 32-bit platforms and CPUs. It is 64-bit Windows 7 that has grown 2.45% in a single month. The forth position is occupied by Vista 64-bit with a growth of between November and December 0.81% and a share of 10.00%, followed by 32-bit Windows 7, ran by 7.45% of gamers.
In just two months since release, no less than 23.06% of the gamers using Steam are running Windows 7, with a predilection for the x64 version of the operating system. As far as the underlying graphics technology is concerned, Windows 7 brings to the table DirectX 11, which is being backported to its predecessor via the Platform Update for Windows Vista.