Close to 20% of all PC gamers are now running 1440p displays, according to Valve

The latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey results for February 2024 and the data show PC gamers are steadily moving to gaming in 1440p, with 18.99% of all users' primary displays rocking this resolution. Of course, having a 1440p display doesn't necessarily mean you'd play every game in native QHD, but getting close to 20% is an important milestone for most gamers moving beyond 1080p.

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The good news is that many GPUs showing growth are aimed at gaming in 1440p, including the GeForce RTX 3070, RTX 4060 Ti, RTX 4070, and the new GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER. Solid performance is high on the list for PC gamers, so being able to game in 1440p is different from comfortable gaming in 1440p - hitting up to 100 FPS in specific titles.

To add weight to the shift, the percentage of 1080p displays is slowly dropping; this resolution for primary displays is now sitting below 60%.

Elsewhere, 4K and ultrawide 3440 x 1440 UWQHD account for close to 4% of all Steam users, which is impressive when you factor in that Steam has well over 120 million monthly active users. 1440p, ultrawide, and 4K displays have become the focus for most monitor makers, with 2024 seeing the arrival of countless impressive OLED offerings covering these three sectors.

There are, of course, plenty of great 1080p options out there. Still, among the PC gaming enthusiast crowd, this resolution for monitors is mainly associated with high refresh-rate competitive gaming - covering titles like Counter-Strike 2, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty. And, more recently, the cooperative smash hit Helldivers 2.

1440p display share grew by +2.97% in the Steam Hardware & Software Survey results for February 2024, its most significant showing in a while. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes for the resolution to take hold fully. It might be a while because mainstream GPUs like the new GeForce RTX 4060 and Radeon RX 7600 are marketed as 1080p cards. So, until then, it'll probably be a slow climb to surpass 20% and then 30%.