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Op-ed: Valve has made a damage in Windows’ video gaming share, however can it keep going?
Valve’s Steam Deck OLED.
Credit: Valve
Valve’s Steam Deck OLED.
Credit: Valve
Valve and its SteamOS os have actually currently done what a lot of business (consisting of Apple )have actually been attempting to do for years: make a damage in Windows’supremacy in PC video gaming.
I indicate, sure, according to Valve’s own stats, Microsoft stays dominant. Over 92 percent of PCs in the Steam Hardware Survey run some variation of Windows. 5 years back, this number was simply over 96 percent. 10 years earlier, it was simply under 96 percent. Fifteen years back? It was 96 percent. Return any even more than that and Steam just operates on Windows in the very first location, itself a testimony to Microsoft’s universality.
In between April 2021 and now, Linux’s share has actually climbed up from under 1 percent to over 5 percent. This is a little number, and it’s not all SteamOS(Valve’s OS isn’t broken out, however Arch, the base circulation for SteamOS, represent about 0.33 of that just-over-5-percent ). It’s likewise more than these numbers have actually ever moved. By making Windows video games work on Linux, instead of attempting to press video game designers to make Linux-native ports, Valve has actually done through natural word-of-mouth success what the business absolutely stopped working to do in the early 2010s when it attempted to handle Windows straight.
A year earlier, Valve appeared poised to construct on that success. SteamOS got main assistance for some third-party video gaming handhelds and other hardware besides, and some makers were starting to deliver designs with SteamOS instead of Windows pre-installed. Games were being evaluated not simply for Steam Deck compatibility, however basic SteamOS compatibility. Late in 2025, Valve revealed the Steam Machine, an effort to take on video game consoles and lower-end video gaming PCs.
And Microsoft appeared not able to react. Windows handhelds generally depend on cumbersome third-party software application to reproduce the Deck’s handheld-optimized user interface, and Microsoft’s very first imperfect stab at a contending user interface introduced years after the Steam Deck on simply 2 Xbox-branded systems. Valve’s timing likewise accompanied a rare time for Windows, when Microsoft was asking users to move from Windows 10 to Windows 11, an OS with a track record for being annoying and having greater system requirements. If individuals are currently being asked to change to brand-new software application or update their hardware, there’s constantly an opportunity that the software application they change to will not be a more recent variation of the very same thing.
Evaporated Steam
Valve’s Steam Machine was poised to broaden on the Steam Deck’s success, however it’s presently in limbo, and the Deck is, too.
Credit: Valve
Valve’s Steam Machine was poised to broaden on the Steam Deck’s success, however it’s presently in limbo, and the Deck is, too.
Credit: Valve
Valve’s push to contend straight with Microsoft and PC hardware makers has actually struck a wall, at least for now: big expense boosts and supply boosts for all kinds of PC elements, especially memory and storage chips.
Issues that began to impact the marketplace for PC elements in late 2025 are now being felt throughout the whole customer tech market. Chip makers are all going after the generative AI gold rush, which has an intense requirement for memory, storage, GPUs, and (significantly) even CPUs. This implies less production capability for the elements that enter into consumer-grade hardware, and more contesting the supply that’s left. Costs that were currently being pressed up by the Trump administration’s now-illegal tariffs are now being pressed up by scarcities rather.
This has actually been especially rough for anyone attempting to make affordable or low-margin hardware. Video game console rate cuts, currently a distant memory thanks to the death of Moore’s Law, have actually paved the way to rate walkings rather. Business like Raspberry Pi and Framework have actually raised costs numerous times this year; even Apple, which has actually traditionally had the ability to protect beneficial costs for part purchases thanks to its large size, has actually been having issues.
For Valve, these issues have not just forever postponed the Steam Machine (“the very first half of the year” is still the strategy, offering Valve 2 months to figure it out), however have actually likewise rendered the 4-year-old Steam Deck mostly unpurchasable. Third-party portable makers have actually raised rates and forever postponed items, eliminating another possible source of newbie SteamOS users.
It was constantly sort of difficult to see how the Steam Machine would take on consoles on cost, which’s still most likely real although consoles now cost a reasonable quantity more than they did a number of years back. Even if it does launch, and even if Valve can keep it in stock, it might not be readily available at a cost that the majority of people are really going to pay.
The only hardware Valve has really had the ability to deliver this year has actually been the brand-new Steam Controller, and executives were in advance about why: The controller “does not have RAM in it.”
Linux can operate on anything, and Valve’s deal with SteamOS continues. Its hardware push has actually momentarily stalled.
Credit: Andrew Cunningham
Linux can operate on anything, and Valve’s deal with SteamOS continues. Its hardware push has actually briefly stalled.
Credit: Andrew Cunningham
Certainly, Valve and SteamOS are simply a little piece of the Linux video gaming pie, and the majority of Windows PCs can be become Linux systems with a USB stick and some effort. Development on the software application side hasn’t stopped. Within the previous month, for instance, Valve has actually obviously made considerable development towards enhancing efficiency on GPUs with 8GB (or perhaps less) of memory.
It does appear as though Valve was prepared to carry out a method that has actually now been interrupted, offering Microsoft some time to get back on its feet at a possibly susceptible minute.
Microsoft is attempting (or attempting to attempt)
There’s plenty to whine about in contemporary Windows: the advertisements, the long list of pre-installed apps, the updates that periodically break things, the all-inclusive generative AI push. Whining about these and other problems has actually gotten bad enough that Microsoft has actually openly devoted to making things much better, though it stays to be seen whether it achieves this objective.
According to reporting from Windows Central, this turn-around effort is understood internally as “Windows K2.” This supposedly isn’t a replacement for Windows 11, however a far-flung effort for enhancing the os’s dependability, efficiency, and security, while likewise moving the rate of advancement to stress stability and software application quality over the rapid-fire intro of brand-new functions.
The report states that video gaming efficiency is a particular top priority of Microsoft’s. Evaluating from Ars and other outlets has actually revealed a little however constant efficiency lead for SteamOS when running the very same video games at the exact same settings, especially on systems like the Steam Deck that depend on integrated graphics and shared memory. Microsoft is supposedly utilizing SteamOS’ efficiency as a target to go for and is preparing “fundamental modifications” to close the space in between Windows and Valve’s OS.
Microsoft is likewise working to minimize the frequency of Windows Update reboots; enhance the efficiency of core functions like the File Explorer and Start menu; to get rid of advertisements; and typically to decrease the os’s memory use and efficiency on low-end systems. Jointly, this effort to spit-shine Windows and enthusiast its track record might simply make Windows 10 upgraders better and minimize some Linux interest amongst lovers.
Microsoft’s Xbox Mode (envisioned here in October 2025) is beginning to present to all Windows PCs.
Credit: Kyle Orland
Microsoft’s Xbox Mode(visualized here in October 2025) is beginning to present to all Windows PCs.
Credit: Kyle Orland
Microsoft’s structured, controller-centric Xbox Mode is likewise simply starting to present to all Windows 11 users, instead of being restricted to Asus’Xbox-branded handhelds. In Xbox Mode, the basic Windows UI does not fill at all, maximizing extra memory and other system resources for video games. This is absolutely a plus at a time when the very best recommendations for updating your PC is “do not.”
Our experience with the preliminary release of Xbox Mode is that it wasn’t as streamlined-feeling as SteamOS; video games typically required extra setup initially launch, and the user interface really wasn’t constantly excellent at its mentioned objective of noting all of your set up video games from throughout all of your set up video game shops. Eventually after the general public release, we’ll require to review it to see which (if any) of these issues have actually been repaired.
The point is that Valve’s issues do provide Microsoft more time to get things right, time that Microsoft perhaps squandered over the very first couple of years of the Steam Deck’s presence. If you’re thinking about running Linux however you’re utilized to Windows, then an enhanced variation of Windows provides you one less factor to change. If you’re considering purchasing a Steam Deck or a Steam Machine and you actually can’t, possibly you invest that cash on something that’s running Windows rather.
Whatever takes place, watch on those Steam Hardware Survey statistics over the next number of years. Possibly Windows will continue to be set up on over 90 percent of the environment’s video gaming PCs, insulated by its familiarity and Microsoft’s numerous enhancements. Or perhaps Valve’s present hardware problems are simply a blip, and its deal with Proton and other innovations is putting a more irreversible damage in Microsoft’s PC video gaming monopoly.
Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica, with a concentrate on customer tech consisting of hardware and thorough evaluations of running systems like Windows and macOS. Andrew resides in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast called Overdue.
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