Valve recently warned that starting January 1, 2024, Steam will end support for Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 operating systems.
The latest features of Valve’s game client leverage an embedded version of Google’s Chrome browser, which stopped supporting the operating systems listed above in February. Subsequent versions of Steam for Windows will require OS updates/upgrades available on Windows 10 or later versions of Windows according to Valve. As the website PC Gamer points out, the end of support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 operating systems is not going to affect Steam much. Just 1.9% of Steam’s audience uses one of the above versions of Windows according to Valve’s latest report.
This does not mean, however, that this percentage is negligible and that it does not concern a significant number of users. Unfortunately, those users will have no choice but to upgrade their operating system or buy a new computer with an operating system supported by the service. The support fee may also cause problems for those who need to run an older generation OS for work or need an older system for retro gaming.
More generally, however, there seems to be additional pressure to move users to newer technology operating systems. Microsoft stopped supporting Windows 7 in January 2020 and Windows 8.1 in early 2023. Epic Games no longer supports these platforms if you want to run Fortnite anyway.
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