If you’re still running Windows 7 or 8 to play games on the PC, we’ve got some bad news. Valve’s Steam platform is terminating any and all support for the two older operating systems, starting next year.

The digital distribution and gaming platform announced via a help document, citing that support for the two archaic platforms will cease on 1 January 2024. The following is the full statement:

“As of January 1 2024, Steam will officially stop supporting the Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating systems. After that date, the Steam Client will no longer run on those versions of Windows. In order to continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through Steam, users will need to update to a more recent version of Windows.

This change is required as core features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of Windows. In addition, future versions of the platform will require Windows features and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above.

Although support won’t end until 2024, we strongly encourage all Windows 7,8, and 8.1 users to update sooner rather than later. Microsoft ended security updates and technical support for Windows 7 in January 2020 and for Windows 8.1 in January 2023. Computers running these operating systems, when connected to the internet, are susceptible to new malware and other exploits which will not be patched. That malware can cause your PC, Steam and games to perform poorly or crash. That malware can also be used to steal the credentials for your Steam account or other services.”

It’s not surprising that the platform would want to end support for Windows 7 and 8, and move on with the rest of the world. Suffice it to say, the writing has been on the wall for a while now; Microsoft itself made the announcement that it would discontinue support for its own operating systems earlier this year, and even went as far as advising consumers to replace their vintage PCs with one that actually supports Windows 11.

(Source: PCGamer, PCWorld, Engadget, Steam)

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