Valve today updated its Hardware & Software Survey for November 2013, and the news is once again very good for Microsoft. Apple and Canonical have less reason to celebrate Steam usage for their respective platforms, but Windows 8.1 is doing great, having overtaken Windows Vista and OS X.
Here is the November 2013 operating system list for Steam, in order of biggest to smallest share:
- Windows 8.1: 6.34 percent
- Windows 8: 12.11 percent
- Windows 7: 64.38 percent
- Windows XP: 6.51 percent
- Windows Vista: 5.53 percent
- Mac OS X: 3.48 percent
- Linux: 0.98 percent
Breaking down the numbers even more, here is how each operating system version fared:
It’s worth noting that it took Windows 8 much longer to hit the same milestones Windows 8.1 did today. First it passed OS X in December 2012, two months after release, and then it passed Windows Vista in February 2013, five months after release. While this isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, it’s still great to see Windows 8.1 pass them both just one month after release.
In fact, Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 were the only operating system to gain share between October and November. While some still cling onto Windows 7, gamers by and large are moving up and ditching Windows 8, Windows Vista, and Windows XP for the latest and greatest. Microsoft should be happy as the gaming market can be very picky; if performance isn’t top notch, the operating system is shunned.
Over the last month, Windows 8.1 gained 4.49 percentage points (from 1.85 percent to 6.34 percent) and Windows 7 gained 0.44 points (from 63.94 percent to 64.38 percent). All other Windows versions lost share: Windows 8 dropped 4.02 points (from 16.13 percent to 12.11 percent), Windows Vista slipped 0.39 points (from 5.92 percent to 5.53 percent), and Windows XP dipped 0.22 points (from 6.73 percent to 6.51 percent).
Microsoft aside, OS X was down 0.54 percentage points to 3.48 percent. Linux was down 0.12 points to 0.98 percent.
Going forward, we expect Windows 8.1 to pass Windows XP next month, and then Windows 8 a few months later. Nevertheless, Windows 7 will still likely be the king on Steam well throughout 2014.
See also – Windows 8 falls to 6.66% market share as Windows 8.1 hits 2.64%, but combined the duo barely grows to 9.3% and OS X Mavericks hits 2.42% market share, passing all predecessors after just one full month of availability
Top Image Credit: Timo Balk
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