No more Steam on Windows 7, 8, or 8.1, starting with 2024

by Alexandru Poloboc

With an overpowering desire to always get to the bottom of things and uncover the truth, Alex spent most of his time working as a news reporter, anchor,… read more

Updated on March 28, 2023

We already knew the fact that Steam users that run Windows 7 numbers were dwindling. Now, however, Microsoft will make it official.

Pretty soon, if your rig runs on this obsolete operating system, you won’t be able to use the Steam platform. Don’t worry, you still have a bit of time left.

But this doesn’t only apply only to Windows 7. As a matter of fact, 2024 will mark the end of Steam usage for PCs with Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1.

And, if you were looking for some good Windows 7 games to play on Steam while you still have the chance, check out our dedicated article.

Steam is removing support for Windows 7 and Windows 8, 8.1

Indeed, like many other services, world-famous PC gaming platform Steam is soon dropping support for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1.

Actually, the major change will make the Steam client inoperable on these legacy operating systems, with users losing access to their games library unless they are using an updated version of Windows.

This impending support drop will happen on January 1st, 2024. Valve said that, after that date, the Steam Client will no longer run on those versions of Windows.

That being said, if you want to continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through the platform, users will need to update to a more recent version of Windows.

Furthermore, according to Valve’s own survey data, 1.86% of Steam’s user base is on the three operating systems getting the boot.

Actually, the great majority of Windows users, which amount to 96.37% of total active accounts on the platform, are using Windows 10 (62.33%) and Windows 11 (32.06%).

This somewhat major change was announced in the latest Steam beta update. The good news is that you have another half a year to properly say goodbye.

Know that Beta versions will now alert players running Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 with an End of Life notice with a recommendation to switch or upgrade to a newer version before support goes away.

Please keep in mind that this alert should arrive to the regular Steam client soon as well. We’re about to tell you what the general idea behind this change is.

The newest features in Steam actually rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of Windows.

In addition to all this, future versions of Steam will require Windows features and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above.

So, if you want to play the latest Steam titles and get access to everything it has to offer, consider upgrading to Windows 10.

Are you still running Steam on Windows 7, 8, or 8.1? Share your experience with us in the comments section below.