Windows 10 adoption passes 25% on Steam

Valve updated its Hardware & Software Survey today for October, and it revealed that more than one in every four gamers on Steam is already using Windows 10. Despite an overall growth slowdown, 27 percent of Steam users have embraced the latest and greatest from Microsoft.

In the first month, Windows 10 adoption on Steam passed Windows 8, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Linux. After two months, Windows 8.1 was also conquered, leaving just Windows 7.

Here is the October operating system market share list for Steam:

• Windows 10: 27.64 percent
• Windows 8.1: 18.06 percent
• Windows 8: 2.46 percent
• Windows 7: 44.42 percent
• Windows Vista: 0.52 percent
• Windows XP: 2.24 percent
• Mac OS X: 3.54 percent
• Linux: 0.98 percent

Windows 10 won’t be passing Windows 7 this year, but the gap is going to keep closing relatively quickly. That’s mainly because all other Windows versions are losing adoption on Steam, meaning Windows 10 is gaining more than Windows 7 is losing.

Breaking down the numbers even more, here is how each operating system version fared:

Between September and October, Windows 10 jumped 2.77 percentage points (from 24.87 percent to 27.64) — small compared to previous months, but still significant. These gains have to come from somewhere: Windows 8.1 dropped 1.02 points (from 19.08 percent to 18.06 percent), Windows 8 slipped 0.17 points (from 2.63 percent to 2.46 percent), Windows 7 fell 1.57 points (from 45.99 percent to 44.42 percent), Vista dipped 0.02 points (from 0.54 percent to 0.52 percent), and XP slipped 0.32 points (from 2.56 percent to 2.24 percent).

On the whole, Windows still dominates Steam with over 95 percent share. Nonetheless, Mac and Linux saw minor gains in October, up 0.31 points and 0.04 points respectively.

Even among gamers, Windows 10 growth has slowed. With the holiday season approaching, many of them may be interested in adopting the latest and greatest operating system, as it goes hand in hand with better support for new rigs and games. Microsoft should consider partnering with Valve to accelerate this trend as it attempts to hit its goal of 1 billion Windows 10 devices in three years.