AMD says Valve is underestimating its success in the Steam Hardware Survey

AMD
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

AMD's hardware – especially its processors – seem to be on a roll, but every month the Steam Hardware Survey, which publishes data on the type of hardware PC gamers using Steam are running, suggests AMD is failing to catch up with Intel and Nvidia – and AMD thinks it knows why.

In a recent interview for Hot Hardware, AMD’s Scott Herkelman suggests that a bug introduced in August 2017 caused AMD systems be underestimated – and he suggests the problem is still affecting results.

The error involves Steam counting every individual login at internet cafes (which are particularly popular in Asian countries) as separate PC configurations. So, if 10 people log into Steam on a single Intel-powered PC at an internet café – and opts in to the Steam Hardware Survey – then the survey will count it as 10 separate machines.

With AMD hardware not as widely used in internet cafes, Herkelman claims that this has resulted in AMD’s hardware popularity being under represented compared to its competitors.

This could explain why AMD seems to be doing so well recently – especially with its processor – yet recent Steam Hardware Surveys don’t show a corresponding growth in AMD adoption.

The survey says…

It seems that while Valve – the company behind Steam – has made some tweaks to fix this, according to Herkelman: “they did change their algorithm a little bit, but they really aren’t motivated to go in and change this… because the purpose of their data is not for market share.”

While many people – including us – use the Steam Hardware Survey as a useful guide on what hardware is popular with PC gamers, the main aim of the survey is to – in Herkelman’s words – “show general trends to game developers”.

Although the Steam Hardware Survey doesn’t give us a 100% accurate view of the market, without getting concrete numbers from AMD, Intel and Nvidia, it still remains a useful tool.

However, it’s worrying how much AMD’s market share is underrepresented, and how Valve seems to not worry about how accurate its survey is. Hopefully Valve continues to tweak the accuracy of its hardware surveys – not just for us, but for developers as well.

Via ExtremeTech

Matt Hanson
Managing Editor, Core Tech

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there's no aspect of technology that Matt isn't passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. Ever since he got an Amiga A500+ for Christmas in 1991, he's loved using (and playing on) computers, and will talk endlessly about how The Secret of Monkey Island is the best game ever made.