Only around a third of the people who use Steam also have the Games for Windows client installed on their PCs, Valve's latest hardware results have revealed.
With Microsoft keen to show that it is still invested in the PC as a gaming platform, especially with Windows 8 expected to use gaming as a key selling point, the statistics show just how big that task has become.
Steam, by Valve, has quickly become one of the most powerful tools for digital distribution of games, feeding off the success of the Half Life series to become a key installation for many PC gamers.
Not good news
The fact that Microsoft's current client for Games for Windows is not more popular can hardly be considered good news for the software giant.
According to Steam's survey, around 97 per cent of people who answered the opt-in hardware survey had Adobe's Flash installed and 63 per cent had the Firefox browser.
Better Microsoft news
Better news for Microsoft than the 36 per cent with Games for Windows was the 57 per cent with Office, 53 per cent with Silverlight and 52 per cent with Live Messenger.
In fact, as you might imagine, the top 10 programs are dominated by Microsoft, which holds five of the slots - serving as a timely reminder of just how important the Redmond giant's presence is on PCs.
On another note, rival Apple will be less than impressed that iTunes is on just 31 per cent of computers, although the results for Macs have not yet been published.
It's not a particularly scientific approach to seeing what people have on their PCs, but it is a fascinating insight into a cross-section of the PC gaming audience.
Via Steam
