Windows 11 is finally about to dethrone Windows 10 as the most popular OS - for gamers, anyway

Windows 11 has just edged closer to toppling Windows 10 as the most-used operating system, at least for PC gamers who are on Valve's Steam platform.

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This is some good news for Microsoft, though we'd expect Windows 11 to have taken the crown already after nearly three years (Image Credit: Microsoft)

Yes, the monthly Steam hardware survey figures are in, and when it comes to operating systems, in June 2024 Windows 11 notched up its overall share to 46.63%, which represents an increase of 0.55% on May.

Windows 10 slid by almost a whole percentage point, dropping 0.93% to finish on 49.42%, still in the lead, but not by much.

In fact, it's less than 3% ahead of Windows 11 now, so it's surely only a short matter of time before the newer OS finally dethrones the older one. (Windows 10 is almost 10 years old now, in fact - it's set to run out of support next year, of course).

As for other Windows versions, Windows 7 remained on 0.4% (actually a tiny increase, but a meaningless one, given that there are always variances caused by the sample set of PCs involved in the survey). Windows 8 stayed static on a barely noticeable 0.08%.

In terms of other operating systems, which have a very slim foothold in the PC gaming world for obvious reasons (a myriad of compatibility issues, one way or another), Linux slipped back after having made some headway in recent times - it dropped 0.24% to sit on a modest 2.08%. Also, macOS slipped a bit to finish on 1.31%.

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