Time for an upgrade: Steam will soon no longer run on old Windows versions

Domagoj Belancic

29.3.2023

Translation: machine translated

Valve announces that Steam will soon no longer support old Windows versions. However, the change should not affect too many Steam users.

From 1 January 2024, the Steam client will no longer run on Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating systems. Valve justifies this step with the incompatibility of Google Chrome with old Windows versions. Some core functions of Steam are based on the "embedded version" of Chrome. Google has already discontinued support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 with version 110 of the browser in February 2023. Valve also emphasises that future versions of Steam will require Windows feature and security updates that are only available in Windows 10 or higher.

Only a few users are affected

According to Steam statistics, only a few users are affected by this change. Windows 7 users make up 1.52 per cent and Windows 8 users only 0.34 per cent of the total user base
So a total of 1.86 per cent or 2.2 million players in absolute figures.

Windows XP and Windows Vista have not been supported by Steam since 2019. The reason given for discontinuing support back then was also the incompatibility of Google Chrome. Only 0.5 per cent of users were affected.

Epic also puts an end to old Windows versions

In addition to Valve, Epic Games has also decided to end support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 - at least for "Fortnite". With the latest update (Chapter 2, Season 4 "MEGA"), the battle royale game no longer runs on PCs with old operating systems. The change was announced back in December last year.

For players who do not want to upgrade to Windows, Epic recommends streaming services such as Nvidia GeForce Now. This means that "Fortnite" can still be played on Windows 7 and Windows 8 computers via cloud gaming.

The Epic Games Store is not affected by these developments. According to Epic, the store supports all Windows versions from Windows 7 onwards until further notice.

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.