Steam's New Update Ends Support for Windows 7/8, Users Must Upgrade Systems

Valve has announced in January 2024 that Steam will no longer support Windows 7 and Windows 8.x operating systems, which Microsoft had previously phased out of its lifecycle support.

The latest version of Steam, which introduces several new features including a built-in game recording function and various improvements, requires at least Windows 10 to run. This move effectively bars users of Windows 7 and 8.x from upgrading to the new version, thus missing out on these latest enhancements and features.

While existing users can still access their Steam libraries and use the platform, the new update's lack of support for older systems means that Valve will not provide technical support for any issues that arise on these outdated versions.

For the time being, Valve has no plans to discontinue Steam's operation on Windows 7/8.x directly, but as time progresses, discontinuing support might become inevitable. Users are advised to prepare for an upgrade to avoid being unable to access games in the future.

Other software giants, including Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, have also gradually ceased support for these older versions, with Firefox still offering limited support.

Steam's own statistics indicate a very small percentage of its user base still operates on Windows 7, approximately 0.28%, with even fewer users on Windows 8.x, making any future decision to end support for Windows 7 unsurprising given the minimal user base.