14 DAY TRIAL // Figures provided by NetMarketShare for the month of November 2017 indicate that Windows 10 is growing worldwide, but when it comes to gaming, it looks like it’s another version of Windows that’s gaining all the praises.
Valve revealed that last month, Windows 7 usage on Steam pretty much skyrocketed, as it posted an increase of 6.67 percent from October to eventually reach 69.89 percent share. This means that nearly 7 in 10 PCs that are being used to play games on Steam are powered by Windows 7 64-bit at a time when Microsoft is pushing hard for Windows 10. The 32-bit version of Windows 7 adds another 1.41 percent to the share.
As far as Windows 10 is concerned, Valve reveals a share of 23.65 percent, down 4.97 percent from the month before, while the 32-bit flavor declined 0.08 percent to 0.29 percent.
Many people seem to believe that the current Steam trends are nothing surprising because more and more users are moving back to Windows 7, and while this could also be a contributing factor to the decline of Windows 10, other Valve figures seem to point otherwise.
China keeps Windows 7 on the OS map
The languages chart reveals that China’s share on Steam increased 8.23 percent last month alone, now reaching 64.35 percent, while English remains the second language with 17.02 percent, but down 4.25 percent.
It’s estimated that Windows 7 continues to be the dominant desktop operating system in China given the high piracy rate in the country, and the huge popularity of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds keeps many people off Windows 10.
Piracy, however, shouldn’t be a roadblock for users who want to upgrade to Windows 10, as there are already several cracked versions of the operating system online if you know where to look.
Whatever the reason behind Windows 10’s decline, this can’t be good news for Microsoft, especially not when support for Windows 7 is projected to end in January 2020. The company still has a hard time getting rid of Windows 7 and the next 24 months are going to be quite a struggle.