Steam, the world’s most popular PC game client, community and store, will close its doors to Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 users next year. The Windows Upgrade Holdout deadline is January 1, 2024. For clarity, Windows 10 will be the oldest Windows OS compatible with the Steam client after January 2024.
in short blog post Regarding Windows 7 and 8 support now, Valve says users will need to upgrade to newer versions of Windows “in order to continue running Steam and games and other products purchased through Steam.”
Some of the reasons behind our support policy become clear. It turns out that the latest Steam feature “relies on an embedded version of Google Chrome” which has limited functionality on older versions of Windows. So it is at least partially due to this software embedding that Steam has to enact a policy for Windows 10 and beyond. However, with the transition finalized, future versions of Steam are set to rely on feature and security updates only present/slated for Windows 10 and above.
It’s a bit sad that Valve is ending support for older Windows OSes, but we have to remember that Windows 10 launched in July 2015. Trouble with teeth grinding. It’s certainly heavier than Windows 7 and 8, but there’s a Tiny10 lightweight version (and his Tiny11 version for Windows 11) for those concerned about the impact on hardware resources.
in the latest Steam Hardware Survey, Windows accounts for 96.4% of gamers. Windows 10 and 11 are the most popular versions, used by 62.3% and 32.1% of users respectively. Meanwhile, previous versions of Windows (7 and 8.1) continue to decline in popularity, with just 1.9% of all users. Even 0.09% of the Steam PCs surveyed are still running the 32-bit version of Windows 7.
Those with older machines whose users adamantly want to keep their Steam connection may be tempted to switch to Linux, or HoloISO (the PC version of SteamOS for Portable Steam Decks). , game compatibility Created after the arrival of the Steam Deck, it still has the wrinkles of Linux and PC Steam games.
Either way, Valve is set to move on from the Windows 7/8 era. Windows 7 was first released in his 2009 and was well received (especially compared to its predecessor, Vista). Windows 8 came out in 2012 and many hated the new Start screen and other aspects. Windows 8.1 followed a year later with an attempt to right Windows 8’s mistakes.
Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 8 in January 2016 and Windows 7 in January 2020. Windows 8.1 joined us earlier this year. So it’s understandable that Valve wants the user to upgrade to a Windows version he still supports by Microsoft.
