Effective January 1, 2024, Steam has officially ended support for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1, impacting users still running the client on these outdated operating systems. As a result, Steam Client installations on these platforms will no longer receive any updates, including crucial security patches. Steam Support will also no longer provide technical support for issues related to these operating systems.
While Valve expects Steam games and the client to continue running on these older operating systems for some time after the cutoff date, they cannot guarantee full functionality beyond January 1, 2024. This move is attributed to core features in Steam relying on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which is no longer compatible with the outdated Windows versions. Additionally, future versions of Steam will necessitate Windows features and security updates exclusive to Windows 10 and above.
Valve strongly urges users to update to a more recent version of Windows to ensure continued access to Steam and any purchased products. The decision aligns with Microsoft’s own termination of support for Windows 7 in January 2020 and Windows 8.1 in January 2023.
Valve’s official Hardware & Software Survey from December 2023 indicates that a minimal percentage of users are still on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, with 0.06% and 0.15%, respectively. In contrast, a significant majority, 53.45%, have migrated to Windows 10, and 41.95% are using Windows 11.
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