If you’ve got an old computer lying around that you use to play games with, you might want to ensure you’ve upgraded it to Windows 10 or newer. Valve has announced that Steam, their video game store and platform, will officially stop supporting Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating systems as of 1 January 2024.
According to Valve, they had to drop support for these older operating systems as a number of core features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which doesn’t work anymore on these older versions of Windows. Upcoming versions of the Steam client will also require several Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 10 and newer. As such, once the new year arrives, the Steam client will no longer work on systems running these older versions of Windows and in order to continue running Steam (and to play any games you have on it) you’ll need to upgrade to a newer version of Windows.
Realistically though, this shouldn’t affect too many of you out there, as most PC gamers are running Windows 10 and Windows 11 systems. Indeed, in the latest Steam Hardware Survey, they found that nearly two thirds of Steam users are already on Windows 10, with another third of their userbase on Windows 11 too. Only 1.43% of Steam users surveyed are still on Windows 7 64bit systems, with another 0.34% and 0.09% of users on Windows 8.1 64 bit and Windows 7 32bit respectively. But with over 120 million monthly active users, there’s still a significant amount of gamers around the world using an outdated operating system.
In fact, there are much bigger reasons why you should upgrade to a newer version of Windows other than just being able to install Steam on your computer. Microsoft has already ended support for all versions of Windows prior to Windows 10, meaning that if you’re still running these operating systems you not only won’t be getting any technical assistance or software and feature updates from Microsoft, you’ll also be at risk due to a lack of security updates coming from Redmond. Windows 8 was the first to go, reaching end-of-support back in 2016, with Windows 7 discontinued in 2020 and Microsoft ending support for Windows 8.1 earlier this year.
Even Valve themselves advise you to make the switch to Windows 10 and newer before the 2024 deadline. They note that computers running these operating systems are much more susceptible to new forms of malware and exploits which won’t be patched by Microsoft due to their end-of-life status. Not only can such malware hurt the performance of your PC when you’re gaming, it can also be end up stealing the credentials for your Steam account and other services too.
