Cold Hard Facts: Taking a Look at Steam Surveys

Did you know that half of Steam users own a DirectX 10 system -- and that more gamers use Steam than Xbox Live?

For those of us who regularly use Steam, Valve's direct-download and community gaming service, it's pretty obvious that Valve isn't shy about gathering information from you. Admittedly, the company's rarely intrusive, respecting our rights and wishes as paying customers. But you have to wonder why Valve cofounder Gabe Newell and co. are so curious about what drivers or DirectX version we're using.

Well, for those of you unaware, Steam releases monthly survey results that chart the changes and trends within its community of PC gamers.

This is by all means not breaking news, but you can glean some intriguing facts from this month's survey results posted on Steam.

CPU Graph

DirectX Graph

It's comforting to know that amid all the recent talk about the "declining PC gaming industry," facts exist that unequivocally prove that not only is the Steam user base growing, but the community is also willing and eager to upgrade their systems -- regardless of the financial burden that this recession poses.

The content delivery service now boasts over 20 million users -- 80 percent of whom are using dual core or better processors. What does this mean? Well, not only is the Steam community bigger than Xbox Live by approximately 3 million active gamers, but the average Steam user has a PC that is more powerful than the Xbox 360.

Nvidia vs. ATI Intel vs. AMD

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Jason Wilson

December 02, 2009

I knew more folks gamed on PCs than consoles. I just didn't have any proof.

Davneet Minhas

"But you have to wonder why Valve cofounder Gabe Newell and co. are so curious about what drivers or DirectX version we're using."

Every PC is different -- a problem that plagues PC game developers. Valve's been conducting such surveys for years, gathering information that ensures they can optimize their games for the maximum number of users. Outside of perhaps id, you're not going to find a developer that creates more stable titles for the PC.

Geoff Birch

When breaking down the GPU numbers, I noticed that despite a continued drop for the most popular card, the 8800 (and I'm betting the vast majority being the 8800GT 512MB), the GPU that powers it (nVidia's G92) continues to show strong with increasing numbers for both the 9800 and GTS 150.

While an impressive 1 in 11 of those surveyed had an 8800 based card, when you add in the other listed G92 based cards that goes up to 1 in 6 (figure may be higher as there are quite a few unlisted G92 cards that will be in the Other bracket).