If you’re using Steam on a Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 computer, you now have a deadline to upgrade so you don’t lose access to the game distribution platform. Valve explained will raise the minimum requirements for your client to work, which means it will stop working on some operating systems.

As of January 1, 2024, if we stick with Microsoft systems, Steam will only run on Windows 10 and Windows 11, completely closing the door to other versions that are still supported. The company says on a support page that this move is the result of the customer’s development, which will receive new features.

Goodbye to Steam on Windows 7 and Windows 8

According to Valve, new Steam features, which we do not know what they will bring at the moment, are built on a foundation. Integrated version of Google Chrome. Problem? Google’s browser will also stop working on previous versions of Windows, partially affecting the compatibility that the developer can offer.

The other reason has to do with the limitations of Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. Because these versions are missing certain features required for new Steam features, they will no longer be supported in a few months. It should be noted that these systems have also officially become insecure systems.

According to Microsoft itself, Windows 7 support ended in January 2020 of this year, Windows 8 in January 2016, and Windows 8.1 support ended in January of this year. In this context, the systems mentioned above are; no longer receiving security updates, bug fixes or new features. In other words: Although they were able to run Steam up to this point and offer a few hours of entertainment, they have been officially discontinued.

Although years have passed and new versions of Windows have arrived, some users are still using these older versions of Windows. According to Statcounter, 1.4% of computers with Microsoft systems in the world have Windows 8.1 and 5.34% have Windows 7. If we examine the latest systems currently supported, we see that Windows 10 has 73.31% of the market and Windows 11 19.13%.

Images: Valve

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