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Valve's September 2026 Steam Hardware Survey shows 32GB of system RAM is now used by 42.22% of surveyed gaming PCs, up 4.77% from August, while 16GB configurations fell to 37.82%. Unusual configurations like 24GB and 48GB also grew slightly, even as a global memory chip shortage continues.
Alinea Analytics estimates Steam generated $1.7 billion in September, up 13% year-over-year, and $5.5 billion in the third quarter, up 12%. Through nine months of 2026 the platform has taken in roughly $16.5 billion, leaving it needing about $3.5 billion in the final quarter to surpass $20 billion for the year for the first time.
Valve's Steam Hardware Survey shows Linux usage dropped 0.85 percentage points to 3.05% for September, down from a March peak of 5.33%. The same survey recorded a 7.42-point jump in Simplified Chinese language use to 31.39% of all Steam users, a shift that historically correlates with Windows gains and Linux declines. Within the Linux segment, CachyOS rose 2.65 points to 18.12%, edging past SteamOS Holo's 17.37%, while AMD chips remain dominant among Linux gamers.
Analytics firm Alinea Analytics estimates Steam generated a record $1.7 billion in September 2026, up 13% from the prior September record, marking its best third quarter ever at $5.5 billion. Year-to-date revenue through nine months reached an estimated $16.5 billion, up from $14.5 billion over the same period in 2025, with new releases like Wardogs and Onimusha: Way of the Sword among the top earners.
Valve's September 2026 Hardware and Software Survey shows 32GB system memory overtook 16GB as the most common setup among Steam users, rising to 42.22% of all sampled rigs, a 4.77-point jump from August. On Windows specifically, 32GB reached about 43% while 16GB fell to 37.6%, and 8GB systems made up just over 6% across all platforms.
A Verge editor reports that glasses like Xreal One Pro, along with VR headsets such as Meta Quest, Steam Frame, and Apple Vision Pro, can now display side-by-side 3D content at full 1080p resolution per eye. This addresses a longstanding flaw in older 3D technologies, which split resolution or brightness between the two eyes using polarized or active shutter glasses.
Valve's Steam Autumn Sale runs through October 8 at 1PM ET, discounting recent releases like Resident Evil Requiem and 007 First Light by 30 percent and Metaphor: ReFantazio by 60 percent. Older titles such as Death's Door, The Talos Principle II, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Monster Hunter Rise and Skyrim are also marked down to just a few dollars each.
Leakers Moore's Law is Dead and IT Home discovered a new AMD chip codenamed Gainsborough in recent driver files, built on TSMC's N3P process as a semi-custom design. Import records reviewed by IT Home show AMD has already shipped test equipment for the chip, which measures 25mm by 25mm, the same package size reportedly planned for AMD's upcoming Ryzen Z3 and Z3 Extreme handheld chips.
Reports indicate Valve is evaluating a new processor codenamed Gainsborough for a future handheld, widely assumed to be the Steam Deck 2. Details on the chip's specifications and manufacturer have not been officially confirmed by Valve.
Meta has released VR Glasses priced at $1,299, weighing around 100 grams, roughly five times lighter than a typical headset. Unlike fully enclosed headsets, the device shows a live video feed of the room centrally with actual unobstructed peripheral vision around the edges, even during use. The Verge's senior editor compared it directly against Valve's Steam Frame, Apple's Vision Pro, and Google/Xreal's Aura.
Valve released an Arm version of SteamOS following its Snapdragon-powered Steam Frame headset, and developers hashtagbasit and MaSieS4Fun quickly adapted it to run on Android handhelds. The port can be installed from a microSD card on devices including the AYN Odin 2 family, AYN Thor, Retroid Pocket 6, and several AYANEO Pocket models, letting users try SteamOS without wiping internal storage. Android Authority tested the MaSieS4Fun build on an AYN Odin 2 Portal and reported it booted and set up successfully after first installing the Rocknix ABL bootloader.
Valve has integrated Pyrowave, a video codec built by open-source developer Hans-Kristian Arntzen specifically for in-home game streaming, into the Steam beta client's Remote Play feature. Unlike general-purpose codecs such as AVC or AV1, Pyrowave is designed to cut encoding and decoding delays and avoid chroma subsampling artifacts that cause blurry text, though it reportedly requires roughly 5 to 10 times more bandwidth to do so.