Steam Is Ditching Support for Older Operating Systems in 2024

By Logan Moore

Valve is warning Steam users on PC to update their operating systems or risk losing access to the service at the start of next year. One of the best aspects of Steam is the ease with which it is available across numerous different PC platforms. And while those who perhaps haven't updated their PC much in the past five years (for some reason) can still use Steam at this very moment, that won't hold true for much longer. 

In an extensive new message shared on the Steam Support page, Valve said that it will soon be discontinuing the platform for PCs that run on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. This change is set to go into effect next year on January 1, 2024. At this time, PCs that still run on these older versions of Windows will no longer be able to run games that are owned through Steam or purchase any other titles through the marketplace. 

"This change is required as core features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of Windows," Valve said of the reason behind the move. "In addition, future versions of Steam will require Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above. Although support won't end until 2024, we strongly encourage all Windows 7/8/8.1 users to update sooner rather than later."

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All in all, this isn't a huge shock, especially since Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 haven't even been directly supported by Microsoft itself in quite some time. Windows 7 received its final update back in 2011 while Windows 8 reached its end in 2016. Valve likely could have stopped supporting most of these operating systems years ago and it wouldn't have made a major impact on its user base, but regardless, 2023 will finally bring things to a close.

Is this forthcoming update to Steam going to impact the manner in which you use the platform? Or are you simply surprised that this change didn't come about sooner? Let me know either down in the comments or shoot me a message on Twitter at @MooreMan12. 

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