14 DAY TRIAL // Adoption of Windows 10 keeps growing every month, and while in terms of global share it’s very close to overtaking Windows 7, when it comes to gaming, Microsoft’s latest OS is already number one.
Data offered by Valve’s gaming platform Steam shows that Windows 10 not only that is the preferred choice for gamers worldwide, but it’s also improving its share every month.
In October 2018, for instance, the 64-bit version of Windows 10 reached 61.24 percent share, up 0.62% from the previous month. The 32-bit sibling, on the other hand, dropped 0.05% to 0.25%.
Windows 7 64-bit also increased last month, jumping 0.44% to 29.61%. This means that together with Windows 10, the 2009 operating system now powers more than 90% of all computers used to play games on the Steam platform.
The biggest drop last month was recorded by the 64-bit version of Windows 8.1, which declined 0.59% to 3.31%. Overall, Windows is now powering 96.44% of the computers on Steam.
macOS and Linux performance
Apple’s macOS also dropped 0.03% last month, but on the other hand, version 10.14 improved 0.53%. However, Apple’s devices still aren’t considered the best devices for gaming at 2.84% share.
On the other hand, Linux, which has often been described as a Windows alternative given the number of titles landing on the platform, nearly stagnates.
Linux improved 0.05% last month to reach 0.72% share on Steam, mostly thanks to Ubuntu 14.04 which posted a growth of 0.07%.
Needless to say, Windows was, is, and will continue to be the leading PC gaming platform, and if Linux and Mac can indeed be positioned as an alternative, nothing would change overnight. Microsoft itself is betting big on making Windows a better operating system for gaming, and given all these efforts, the growth that was recorded last month makes perfect sense.