It is time for some gamers to upgrade their rigs and, most importantly, their version of Windows as Steam has just ended the official support for the Steam launchers on Windows operating systems 7, 8, and 8.1.
Basically, this means that we’ve reached the end of an era. Also, those specific operating system versions will no longer receive any security updates or support from Steam.
The core reason for this move is that Steam relies on a version of Google Chrome that’s no longer supported on Windows 7. This has led Valve, the company behind Steam, to urge gamers to embrace Windows 10 or 11.
However, this shouldn’t be the only reason gamers still utilising these older versions of Windows to update; back in 2020, Microfot also stopped all updates and technical support for Windows 7.
As of January 2023, updates were stopped permanently for Windows 8 and 8.1 – so the time to update is now unavoidable. If you’re reading this from your Windows 10 or 11 machine and wondering just how many gamers will be affected by Steam’s decision, then the answer is not many.
Steam’s hardware survey for December showed that these operating systems only made up between 0% and 0.01% of Steam users worldwide. It’s also worth noting that while Epic Games still offers support for Windows 7, it’s only a matter of time before they jump ship, too.
As for gamers on Windows 10, Microsoft has already announced that Windows 10’s support is scheduled to end on Oct. 14, 2025, so before we know it, I’ll be back here covering the end of Windows 10 Steam support as well – better get upgrading folks, this is your sign.