Steam Provides Great Statistics on Gaming Hardware

The Steam Hardware Survey is a great tool, for PC video game developers and players alike. For the former, as Valve says: “The survey is incredibly helpful for us as game developers in that it ensures that we’re making good decisions about what kinds of technology investments to make.” Or in layman’s terms, its a great indicator for what the next games’ minimum requirements should be.

On the player’s side, the stats—compiled from at least a million gamers worldwide—provide a good gauge on the long-term prospects of their rig. Right now, I see that I’m in my good hands, as my desktop’s specs primarily match what the hardware survey considers the most popular. Apparently my 512MB 9500GT and Intel E7300 are used by a lot of other people, making me feel confident that I’ve made the right investment in my gaming hardware. You can bet that if and when I decide to upgrade, I’ll be checking out what most people on Steam are using.

But perhaps the best part of Valve’s Steam Hardware Survey is the trend tracking. Visitors can see how much a particular piece of hardware has become more or less popular, on a monthly basis (tracked by percentage in comparison with the rest of Steam’s user base). For instance, the survey reveals that for December 2008, owners of “Above 1TB” hard disks have increased by 0.56%, while the “100 to 249GB” range has dropped by 0.70%.

All in all, great info! Developers know what kind of system they should program their next game for, and gamers get to see if they’re literally keeping up with the Joneses.