PC players with older versions of Windows may need to upgrade if they want to continue enjoying their Steam libraries.
Valve it was announced this week that Steam will no longer support Windows 7 and Windows 8 on January 1, 2024. “After that date”says the company’s short ad, “The Steam client will no longer work on these versions of Windows.”
Microsoft ended support for both operating systems in January 2023. GPU manufacturers like Nvidia and AMD also stopped supporting their latest GPUs on Windows 7 or Windows 8 some time ago.
This change will affect a small but still significant number of Steam users. According to data from Valve’s own February 2023 survey, 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 make up just under two percent of all Steam usage.
That’s paltry compared to Windows 10 and Windows 11 (nearly 95 percent), but all macOS versions combined make up just 2.37 percent, and all Linux versions combined (including Steam Deck) add up to just 1.27 percent. Percent.
The main culprit, according to Valve, is the built-in Chromium-based browser that Steam uses to render the Steam store and other parts of the UI. Chrome dropped support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 around the same time that Microsoft ended support for the operating systems earlier this year.
Valve recommends upgrading to a newer version of Windows now rather than waiting for the January 2024 deadline, mainly because these PCs are now unpatched and more vulnerable to malware.