The Steam Hardware Survey samples the system when Steam is launched, not while a game is playing. For most users, Steam starts when they log in to the computer. I think the unfortunate reality is that a very large number of gamers are still using 1920x1080 as their everyday ordinary screen resolution for their primary display, though a few percent at least are probably on laptops small enough that 1920x1080 is somewhat reasonable.

>The Steam Hardware Survey samples the system when Steam is launched, not while a game is playing

Who's installing steam on their non-gaming computer?

Not all gamers have a computer entirely dedicated to that purpose. Even among those that do, it's not uncommon to also play games or run Steam on another machine.

I have it installed on a non-gaming laptop. There are lots of lightweight games that I might play when traveling.

I still have Steam installed on the laptop that was long ago replaced as my gaming computer but which is occasionally used for other purposes, because I have no particular reason to remove it.

How is that relevant? The question was whether the resolution figure in the survey is hardware resolution or software settings, and it's the former.

It's actually probably reporting the software-configured resolution, not the hardware capability. The important distinction is whether it's a system-wide resolution setting or a game-specific setting that may not apply to browser contexts (except for the ones used by Steam itself).

What makes you think that it’s more likely reporting a software-configured resolution? It is after all a hardware survey, and focused on what user hardware supports.

It's vastly simpler, and more useful, for Steam to detect the current resolution. Trying to detect the maximum supported resolution is non-trivial, especially when there are devices that will accept a 4k signal despite having fewer pixels.

Plenty of gaming monitors are native 1080p. Compared to a higher-res normal monitor at the same price, you usually get a higher refresh rate and better pixel response times. Or you used to, anyway—looks like that part of the spec sheet has been effectively exhausted in the recent couple of years, and manufacturers looking to sell something as “gaming gear” are slowly moving on to other parts of it. As long as they’re raising the baseline for all of us, I’ve no beef with them.