Future Tech · Myth vs Reality
Is PC gaming dying? — It just hit 40 million concurrent.
The "PC gaming is dying" headline has been recycled every year since 1996. In 2026 it has never been less accurate. Steam set new records this March. The library is open on more devices than ever. The handheld category is exploding.
- Steam peak '26
- 40.2M
- Proton Gold+
- 19,000+
- handheld growth
- +70% YoY
The Steam numbers don't lie
Every year a tech outlet posts a "PC gaming is dying" think-piece. Every year Steam's own data flatly contradicts it. The graph at the top of this page tells the entire story — concurrent users on a single PC storefront, climbing relentlessly through every supposed PC apocalypse.
| Year | Steam concurrent peak | What was "killing PC" |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 18.5M | Fortnite + Epic Games Store |
| 2020 | 24.8M | Pandemic / "console-quality on phone" |
| 2022 | 28.2M | Stadia, GeForce Now, cloud gaming |
| 2024 | 36.0M | PS5 Pro, Xbox handheld rumours |
| 2026 (Mar) | 40.2M | This article you're reading |
That's a single storefront. Add Epic Games Store, GOG, EA App, Battle.net, Ubisoft Connect, Xbox/PC Game Pass and itch.io, and the active PC gaming population is comfortably north of 110 million daily players. Steam happens to publish its numbers — which is why "Steam concurrent peak" became shorthand for the whole platform.
The Hardware Survey is just as instructive. The most common GPU on Steam in mid-2026 is the RTX 4060 — a R7,500 mid-range card. The PC gaming audience is broader and lower-spend than the "RGB tower with three 4090s" stereotype suggests, and that's exactly why it keeps growing.
AAA on PC in 2026 — the slate is record-deep
For most of the last decade, AAA studios treated PC as a delayed afterthought. That has shifted hard. The current 2026 slate is the most PC-friendly in living memory.
Rockstar finally went PC-native. GTA 6 has an officially confirmed PC version with DLSS 4, FSR 4 and ultrawide support. Current guidance puts the PC port roughly 6-9 months behind console — a huge reduction from GTA 5's 18-month wait. Rockstar has hired a dedicated PC engineering team to make this the norm going forward.
Sony has fully embraced PC. God of War Ragnarok, Spider-Man 2, Horizon Forbidden West, Ghost of Tsushima and Helldivers 2 are all on PC now. Death Stranding 2 launched day-and-date with PS5 in 2025. The "PlayStation exclusive" window has compressed from "forever" to "about 18 months" — and even that is shrinking.
Microsoft's Xbox-on-PC strategy is fully realised. Every first-party Xbox title launches day-and-date on PC via Game Pass. Avowed, Forza Motorsport, Starfield expansions and Indiana Jones run natively. Xbox isn't really a console manufacturer anymore — it's a Windows game publisher with a hardware side gig.
The indie boom — better than ever
If AAA shows PC isn't being abandoned at the top, indie shows the bottom of the funnel is healthier than anywhere else in gaming. Indie continues to be a PC-first ecosystem and the wins are getting bigger.
- Hades 2 1.0 shipped Q3 2025, sold 5M+ copies in three months, currently sitting at 96% positive on Steam.
- Hollow Knight: Silksong ended its legendary wait and sold 4M+ in its launch month — basically the biggest 2D platformer launch of all time.
- Balatro 2 followed up the original's BAFTA Game of the Year run with another 3M+ in the first quarter.
- Animal Well, Lorelei and the Laser Eyes, Tactical Breach Wizards proved sub-R400 indies can dominate Steam charts for weeks.
- Manor Lords and the broader survival/strategy boom show that mid-budget Early Access remains a uniquely PC phenomenon.
Console storefronts still take indies, but the discoverability is on Steam, the modding lives on PC, and the long tail of revenue is on PC. This part of the market is not in any way slowing down.
Linux & Proton — Windows-only is basically over
The single most underrated story in PC gaming this decade is what Valve did with Proton. Five years ago, a Windows-only game on Linux meant "doesn't run." Today, on a Steam Deck (Linux-based SteamOS), the vast majority of the Steam library just works.
| ProtonDB rating | Meaning | Count (Jun 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Platinum | Runs perfectly, no tweaks | ~12,400 |
| Gold | Runs near-perfectly, minor tweaks | ~6,800 |
| Silver | Playable with workarounds | ~3,500 |
| Borked | Doesn't run / anti-cheat blocks | ~1,200 |
The big remaining holdouts are a handful of competitive multiplayer titles where anti-cheat vendors haven't enabled Linux support — Valorant, Fortnite (chapter mode), Apex Legends, Roblox. Everything else essentially just runs, often better on Proton than on Windows itself thanks to lower OS overhead.
SteamOS 3.6 is now also shipping pre-installed on the ASUS ROG Ally X v2 and Lenovo Legion Go 2 as an alternative to Windows 11 — and on those devices it runs noticeably cooler and longer on battery than Windows does. The Windows monopoly on PC gaming is genuinely starting to break.
Mac gaming, finally
For two decades, "Mac gaming" was a joke. In 2026 that finally changed, and the change came from two directions at once.
Apple Silicon hit gaming-tier performance. The M4 Pro and M4 Max chips now deliver RTX 4070-class GPU performance with desktop-grade thermals on the Mac Studio and 16" MacBook Pro. The Mac mini M4 Pro is a genuinely competent gaming machine for under R30,000 — something nobody could say about any Apple product previously.
Game Porting Toolkit 2 collapsed the porting cost. Apple's GPTK 2 lets developers ship Mac builds in weeks rather than months. Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding 2, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Resident Evil Village, Assassin's Creed Shadows and Lies of P all have proper native Mac builds. The library is still smaller than Windows, but it's no longer the wasteland it was.
Crucially, this helps rather than threatens PC gaming. A Mac running a Steam game is a Steam customer. The platform is growing by absorbing devices, not by fighting them.
The handheld PC explosion
The single biggest growth segment in PC gaming over the last three years is one that didn't really exist before 2022 — handheld PCs. Steam Deck started it. Everyone else followed. The category is up roughly 70% YoY through 2025-2026.
| Device | What it brings | SA price band |
|---|---|---|
| Steam Deck OLED (1TB) | Reference handheld, SteamOS, brilliant value | R14,500-R17,500 |
| ASUS ROG Ally X v2 | Strix Halo APU, dual-boot Windows/SteamOS | R22,000-R25,000 |
| Lenovo Legion Go 2 | Detachable controllers, 144Hz OLED | R24,000-R28,000 |
| MSI Claw 8 AI+ | Intel Lunar Lake-H, best battery in class | R23,000-R26,000 |
| GPD Win Max 3 | Niche keyboard handheld, dev favourite | R28,000+ (import) |
All of these run the full Steam library — including your existing games, with no re-purchase. They dock to TVs for couch play. They side-load Game Pass, Epic, GOG and itch.io. They are, functionally, the form factor that absorbs the "I don't want a desktop" market that consoles used to own outright.
Console vs PC — PC isn't losing, it's morphing
The honest comparison in 2026 isn't binary. There are three meaningful platforms now: closed-box console, traditional desktop/laptop PC, and the new handheld PC category. Each wins on different things.
| Dimension | Console (PS5 Pro) | Gaming PC (mid-range) | Handheld PC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Library size | ~5,000 titles | 50,000+ titles | 50,000+ titles |
| Entry price (SA) | R14,000 | R20,000-R35,000 | R14,500-R28,000 |
| Mod support | Limited / curated | Full, unrestricted | Full, unrestricted |
| Upgrade path | Replace whole unit | Per-component, 5-7 yr | Replace whole unit |
| Backwards compat | PS4-only | Back to 1990s DOS | Back to 1990s DOS |
| Couch play | Reference experience | Needs setup | Built-in / docks to TV |
| Exclusives | First-party PlayStation | Mods + EA strategy/sim | Same library as desktop |
The takeaway isn't that consoles are dying either — they aren't. The takeaway is that PC is the platform that's morphing fastest. It absorbed the indie market a decade ago, it's absorbing the handheld market right now, and it's quietly absorbing Mac too. None of that looks like dying.
Key takeaways
- Steam hit 40.2M concurrent peak in March 2026 — its highest ever, up ~70% on 2020.
- AAA is back on PC day-and-date: Sony, Microsoft and Rockstar all ship PC versions now.
- ProtonDB lists 19,000+ Platinum/Gold games — Windows-only is mostly over.
- Apple's GPTK 2 + M4 silicon made Mac gaming genuinely viable for the first time.
- Handheld PC is the fastest-growing PC segment ever — up ~70% YoY into 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is PC gaming actually dying in 2026?
No — it's having its best year on record. Steam hit a 40.2 million concurrent-user peak in March 2026, up from 33M in 2023 and 24M in 2020. Hardware sales are up, handheld PC shipments are up roughly 70% YoY, and AAA studios are shipping PC day-and-date with console more often than ever.Will GTA 6 come to PC at launch?
Rockstar has officially confirmed a PC version of GTA 6, though not at console launch — current guidance points to a PC port roughly 6-9 months after the console release. The wait is shorter than GTA 5 (which took 18 months) and Rockstar has hired a dedicated PC team.Can I play Windows games on Linux or Steam Deck?
Yes — ProtonDB now lists over 19,000 games as Platinum or Gold rated (run perfectly or near-perfectly out of the box). Anti-cheat compatibility has expanded to include most BattlEye and EAC titles. The major holdouts are a handful of competitive multiplayer titles.Is Mac gaming finally viable?
For the first time, yes. Apple's Game Porting Toolkit 2 lets developers ship Mac builds in weeks rather than months, and the M4 Pro and M4 Max deliver RTX 4070-class GPU performance. Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding 2, Resident Evil Village and Assassin's Creed Shadows now have native Mac builds.Are handheld gaming PCs worth it in 2026?
Absolutely — this is where most of the PC platform's growth is happening. The Steam Deck OLED, ASUS ROG Ally X v2 and Lenovo Legion Go 2 all play Cyberpunk 2077 at 40-60 FPS at handheld resolution and dock to a TV for couch play. SA pricing ranges from R12,500 to R28,000.Console vs PC in 2026 — which should I buy?
Consoles still win on lowest-friction couch play and exclusive titles. PC wins on library size (50,000+ vs ~5,000), mod support, backwards compatibility, upgrade path, and price-per-frame at the mid-to-high end. The handheld PC closes the couch-play gap considerably.What about indie games — is that scene healthy?
It's the strongest indie market in PC gaming history. Hades 2 1.0, Hollow Knight Silksong and Balatro 2 all launched in 2025-2026 and each sold over 5 million copies. Indie remains a PC-first ecosystem with a healthy creator economy.Will cloud gaming kill local PC gaming?
No — and this prediction has stalled for years. GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming are useful complements, but local hardware still wins on latency, image quality and ownership. In SA specifically, GeForce Now's Johannesburg datacentre helps, but local fibre routinely outperforms cloud streaming for gamers who can afford a PC.
