Valve’s latest monthly Steam Hardware & Software survey is available. While the last few months have seen ups and downs, July turned out to be a surprisingly stable month for all the headsets on the map.
Each month, Valve runs a survey among Steam users to determine some baseline statistics about what kind of hardware and software is used by the user population, and to see how things are changing over time; that includes which VR headsets are connected to users’ computers. Participation in the survey is optional.
The July numbers show the Oculus Rift continuing its slight lead in headset marketshare on Steam, now a six month streak, at 46.18% (−0.08%) over the HTC Vive at 44.35% (−0.21%). Meanwhile Windows VR headsets gain slightly from those loses, now at 6.41% (+0.16%).
Interestingly, the Oculus Rift DK2 development kit is still hanging on to 1.25% (−0.26%) share of headsets on Steam. The HTC Vive Pro, while not officially designated in the data, appears to have slowly snuck into the standings, likely making up a missing 1.81% (+0.39%) of the pie.
According to the July figures, overall 0.65% (−0.05%) of the sampled Steam users had VR headsets connected to their computers at the time of the survey. Hardware sales and content are major drivers for the VR headset figures seen on the Steam Hardware & Software Survey, but certainly not the only factors. New users joining Steam (who are less likely than not to own a VR headset) may also make overall percentages shrink even if the gross headset numbers are static or increasing.
Valve recently said that the total number of active VR users on Steam are up 160% year-over-year. Based on fresh usership data from Valve, we made a rough estimate of some 611,100 VR headsets attached to PCs running Steam over the course of June.
Overall these are small changes and show that July was a month of relative stability compared to other months where changes of a full percentage point or more are not uncommon. With changes so small, it’s hard to pinpoint what each movement might mean, though it stands to reason that the continued sales on Windows VR headsets are likely helping their slow but steady gain of headset marketshare on Steam.