Steam has officially ended support for Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, effective from January 1, 2024. This decision follows the need for newer security features that are available only in Windows 10 and later versions. This means users running Steam on these operating systems will no longer receive updates, including security patches, and Steam will not offer technical support for issues related to these older versions of Windows.
The move is driven by the fact that core features of Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer supports these operating systems. While users can still run Steam on these systems for now, Valve has warned that future updates will not be available, and the software could become increasingly unstable over time.
Windows 7 and 8.1 users have long been receiving warnings about the end of support from both Microsoft and Steam. Without security updates, these systems are vulnerable to malware and performance issues, making them risky for internet use.
The most recent hardware survey showed that a very small fraction of gamers (0.28% using Windows 7 and 0.08% on Windows 8/8.1) are still relying on these outdated operating systems. This marks the end of an era for Windows 7 gamers, as Steam has been supporting the OS since its 2009 launch. Now, 15 years later, players are being urged to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11. Windows 11 is becoming increasingly popular, recently overtaking Windows 10 as the most-used OS by gamers.
Need for security and functionality
Steam’s decision is driven by the need for security and functionality updates available only in Windows 10 and above. The embedded version of Google Chrome used by Steam no longer supports older Windows versions, making updates and new features incompatible.
Despite this, the impact is minimal, with only 0.89% of Steam users still on these unsupported versions, according to the latest Hardware Survey.
With Windows 10 end-of-support set for 2025, Windows 11 is becoming the more viable long-term choice for gamers looking to keep their systems up-to-date and secure.
Future Steam versions will require newer Windows features, impacting less than 1% of the user base.
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