Nearly 50% of Steam users are still on Windows 10 despite its death date approaching

Windows 10 is still the world's most popular operating system, and Microsoft plans to officially end support for the OS this October, which will result in hundreds of millions of machines around the world exponentially becoming more vulnerable to security issues.

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Of those hundreds of millions of machines around the world, millions are Steam users, and according to Valve's latest Steam Hardware Survey, nearly 50% of users that opt into the survey are still using Windows 10. Microsoft announced that support for Windows 10 will officially come to an end on October 14, 2025, which means the company will no longer provide free updates, technical assistance, or new security fixes. Since the announcement, the Redmond-based company has been on a marketing campaign to push as many Windows 10 users over to Windows 11.

However, the adoption rate of Windows 11 appears to be lackluster, and given the current adoption rate there will still be millions of machines on the old operating system by the time the deadline is reached. Steam appears no different in this regard, as the recent hardware survey reveals 96.55% of Steam users are on a Windows operating system, with Windows 11 accounting for 53.46%, and Windows 10 still holding 42.87% of users.

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These stats are indicative of a wider problem Microsoft is facing with Windows 11 - the lack of value the operating system offers versus Windows 10 and the hardware requirements to be eligible for Windows 11. On a global scale, Windows 11 has been available for four years now, and the current market share of the operating system is only about 36.6%, versus Windows 10, which still has 60.33%.