As of next year, Steam will no longer support Windows 7 and 8 according to an official statement from Valve. Virtually every gamer in the world has installed the most widely used PC gaming client, whether for its free-to-play options or its outstanding sales, but soon none of this will be available on legacy Windows OS versions.
A lot of people criticized Steam when it first came out in 2003 because it was the first business to let customers install its integrated content delivery and DRM service. It took time and effort for it to develop into the game library application that users are familiar with today, and Valve thinks it’s time to stop using some of Microsoft’s older OS versions for security reasons.
As of January 1, 2024, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems will no longer be supported by Steam, according to an official statement from Valve. The reason for this, according to Valve, is dual: not only does Steam run on Chromium, which is no longer compatible with outdated Windows installations, but it also necessitates the most recent feature and security updates for Windows. These are, of course, only accessible on the most recent versions of Windows 10 and higher, so the upcoming 2023 Steam sale events will be the last opportunity for Windows versions 7, 8, and 8.1 to support Steam-based gaming.
Although some gamers who remember what Steam looked like nearly 20 years ago may still be using legacy versions of Windows for a variety of reasons, it goes without saying that doing so in this day and age is a significant security risk.
Dropping support for Windows versions before 10 was inevitable, and since Valve is providing everyone with a fair amount of advance notice of this change, it’s unlikely that anyone will be caught off guard by it.
The fact that Steam continues to attract millions of new users during sale periods is evidence of the service’s longevity and dependability, and the only way to ensure that it continues to function in the future is to stay on top of the most recent security updates and enhancements. As Windows 10 approaches its end-of-life status with Microsoft, it is obvious that the same thing will eventually happen as three major versions of Windows are discontinued in 2024, but that’s a problem for another day.
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