It’s taken almost three years, however PC avid gamers at the moment are lastly able to crown a brand new champion. In line with the most recent Steam {Hardware} Survey for August 2024, Home windows 11 is now the default selection for avid gamers, knocking Home windows 10 from the highest spot for the primary time since 2016.

Home windows stays the dominant platform on the entire with a 96.78% total share of customers operating Home windows 11, 10, 8, and seven. Assist for different platforms, together with macOS and Linux, stays fairly regular, however nonetheless with below 3.22% of the full market share. That features customers operating the default Linux-based SteamOS on the Steam Deck. SteamOS is likely to be nice on a Steam Deck, however the very best gaming PCs are nonetheless operating Home windows (for now, no less than).

As Home windows 11 approaches its third birthday, although, there’s a transparent signal that Microsoft’s efforts emigrate customers to its latest OS are lastly working. The August Steam Survey reveals a 3.36% improve in Home windows 11 customers, taking it as much as 49.17% of the full. This matches an almost equal loss in Home windows 10 help by 3.07%, taking the full share of customers on that platform right down to 47.09%.

Steam help ended for Home windows 7 and eight customers again in January 2024, and whereas a dedicated 0.44% of customers are nonetheless clinging to these platforms, that’s now a tiny proportion of the full. With simply over a yr to go till Home windows 10 help ends, and with every new gaming PC bought, I’m anticipating to see the help for Home windows 10 drop steadily over the following twelve months. This two-horse race is hotting up, however with a brand new race chief now in entrance.

Celebration for Microsoft, then, nevertheless it’s a very long time within the making. Home windows 11’s launch wasn’t a roaring success for avid gamers, with efficiency points and new {hardware} necessities, comparable to TPM 2.0 chip help, placing customers off if they’d older {hardware}. Even free upgrades to Home windows 11 haven’t been sufficient to push some avid gamers to maneuver on, no less than till now.

Microsoft isn’t afraid to gatekeep its finest and newest options on Home windows 11 to pressure the difficulty, both. DirectStorage, a expertise from Microsoft that cab quickly pace up sport loading instances and enhance gaming efficiency on PCs with the very best gaming SSDs, works on Home windows 10, however receives the very best enhancements on Home windows 11.

When you’re planning to construct a gaming PC at the moment, you’re now finest suggested to put in Home windows 11, as Microsoft is simply going to help Home windows 10 with safety updates till October 2025.