Steam Is Dropping Support for Old Windows Operating Systems

gamerant.com:

Valve has officially announced that Steam will no longer support Windows 7 and 8 starting next year. The most popular PC gaming client on the market has been a mainstay installation for virtually every gamer in the world, whether for its free-to-play offerings or its stellar sales, but soon enough, none of this will be available on legacy Windows OS versions.

Steam first launched back in 2003 to fairly widespread critique, as it marked the first time a company would offer its own integrated content delivery and DRM service for users to install. It took time and effort for it to grow into the game library application that users know today, and for security's sake, Valve believes now's the time to move on from some of Microsoft's older OS versions.

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According to the official announcement from Valve, Steam will no longer support Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems as of January 1, 2024. Valve has explained that the reasoning for this is twofold, as not only does Steam itself run on Chromium, which no longer functions on old Windows installations, but it will also require the latest Windows feature and security updates. These, of course, are only available on the up-to-date Windows 10 and newer, meaning that 2023's upcoming Steam sale events will mark the final push for Steam-based gaming on Windows versions 7, 8, and 8.1.

While some of the gamers who recall 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 is a huge security risk in this day and age. Dropping support for pre-10 builds of Windows was to be expected, and since Valve is giving everyone a