Intel Arc GPUs have appeared in the Steam Hardware Survey for the first time, nearly three years after Intel first announced the lineup. This latest November survey points to a modest increase in Intel Arc adoption, but it appears to be limited to gaming laptops with integrated Intel Arc GPUs, rather than due to a wider success on desktop gaming PCs.
It’s safe to say that Intel Arc GPUs haven’t quite been accepted as the best graphics cards on laptops or gaming PCs. However, as we found in our Intel Arc A770 review, Intel can now build a competitive lower mid-range GPU, even if it’s had a struggle with compatibility issues.
Valve hasn’t suddenly detected a rush of gamers using A770s, however. Instead, the name Intel Arc Graphics shows a small increase in Steam users with gaming laptops that use Intel CPUs with integrated Arc graphics in its latest Steam Survey. The Intel Arc Graphics name is used to describe integrated Intel Arc GPUs as a whole, rather than referring to any specific model number, and this is the name you’ll see on an integrated Arc GPU.
All other Intel GPUs listed in the November Steam Hardware Survey are integrated models too. The catch-all Intel Arc Graphics is a low entry, just about gaining entry onto the survey with 0.18% of Steam gamers, while its immediate predecessor, listed as Intel Iris Xe graphics, sits in 16th place overall, with 1.92% total adoption by Steam users.
The Steam Hardware Survey is an interesting bellwether of gamers’ tastes, as we saw with Steam Windows 11 adoption, but this isn’t showing a similarly huge change in support for Intel GPUs just yet. Integrated Intel graphics have long been the graphics system of last resort for gamers, especially on budget laptops, due to their poor gaming performance.
In the meantime, Intel has managed to launch its new Battlemage Arc GPUs for desktop PCs ahead of Nvidia and AMD’s new GPUs, and they’re priced keenly too.
If you’re interested in what else is reportedly coming soon in the world of desktop gaming GPUs, check out our guide to the new Nvidia RTX 5090, as well as the rest of the rumored RTX 5000 lineup, to find out everything we know about what Nvidia potentially has in store for 2025.