On the Steam support page, Valve reminded the end (already announced) of the compatibility of its gaming platform from January 1, 2024 for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 operating systems. Players will need to migrate to Windows 10 or Windows 11.

Steam thus officially joins a large number of services that They ended support for older Windows. For example, Google for Chrome version 110 and later; Edge browser; Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage client; NVIDIA with its graphics card drivers; Plexus; qBittorrent and very long etc.

The point is that once Microsoft sets the end of life for previous systems and no longer offers technical support, feature enhancements, or security fixes, it doesn’t make sense for other software providers to continue to support them. In the case of Steam, the latest features of the client are based on the built-in version of Google Chrome, which no longer works on older versions of Windows, as we said. Additionally, future versions of Steam and the digital store will require Windows security features and updates that are only available in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

The recommendations are obvious: «We strongly recommend all Windows 7/8/8.1 users to update as soon as possible. End-of-life computers and unsupported operating systems are vulnerable to new malware and other exploits that go unpatched. This malware can cause your PC, Steam and your games to crash or crash. “This malware can also be used to steal Steam account credentials or other services,” the company points out.

Time for an update… If you continue to bet on Windows, since it is no longer possible to upgrade to Windows 10 from previous systems for free, we recommend that you purchase it with the offers that we regularly offer you, an original Windows 10 license valid for life for only 12 euros. From there, you can upgrade to Windows 11 if you’re thinking about it.