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Steam dropping support for Windows 7/8/8.1 on January 1, 2024

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

Windows 7 and Windows 8 Support
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.

The newest 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 Steam will require Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above.
 

Kataploom

Gold Member
This is stupid.

If you got an older PC and don´t want to upgrade to 10/11 you can not play your games anymore.
If you're playing on PC your PC must be up to date, those versions lost support from Microsoft and Valve cannot risk some people getting exploited by hackers and sueing them.

Also, Windows 10 is just so good it's basically current Windows XP and 7, people don't want to move on from it, and since Windows 7, new versions hardware requirements have barely increased.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
I just wonder how bloated and slow is someone’s pc that has been running the same os for over a decade.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Meaning it will still work. They just don't guarantee it will work well.
I don't see how you are not on windows 10/11 if you are 4real about pc gaming though
 

Kadve

Member
How about adding a legacy client then so you can still download you're already purchased games? I can understand that they consider it a security issue but a simple download only one would be nice.

Meaning it will still work. They just don't guarantee it will work well.

Sounds to me like it will have a piece of code stopping it from running on those versions.
 
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Griffon

Member
It'll likely still work in some capacity if you do it, but valve wont offer any customer support if you have an issue.

Edit: nevermind I didn't read the OP, apparently it wont boot at all. Tough shit.
 
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Three

Member
If you're playing on PC your PC must be up to date, those versions lost support from Microsoft and Valve cannot risk some people getting exploited by hackers and sueing them.

Also, Windows 10 is just so good it's basically current Windows XP and 7, people don't want to move on from it, and since Windows 7, new versions hardware requirements have barely increased.
How would valve get hacked or are you saying valve would get sued for the users PC getting hacked? I don't think either is plausible to be honest.

They should just stop updated client support and keep your previous games downloadable on older versions of the client for those who want to remain on older windows.
 

RagnarokIV

Member
I was using the old archived version of Steam on my Windows XP gaming PC after they ended XP support. Worked up until about 2 years ago when they fully closed it off.
 

kicker

Banned
They should just stop updated client support and keep your previous games downloadable on older versions of the client for those who want to remain on older windows.
Yeah, they should just let people use the old version but not let them connect tl the internet, if possible. But, eh

Valve publishes their software and hardware stats, and based on the below
BCbH2pv.jpg


It seems like roughly 2% of steam users are still using windows 7/8. And since the last milestone for concurrwnt steam users was something like 31,000,000, it seems that around 500 - 600k people will be affected.
Shame for them
 
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rajkosto

Neo Member
Can't believe folks are on Windows 8.1.
actually best OS for productivity because it has many of the kernel/shell improvements from Windows 10 that people praise (and think that's the first version they came in), while having none of the annoyances like the notification bar, removal of control panel applets and redirecting them to mostly useless whitespace metro Settings, broken thumbnail generation in "Shell Experience Host", etc.
You do need to use a start menu replacement app in it, but you had to do that in Win10 before 1809 anyway, and now need to use in Win11 too.
 

xrnzaaas

Member
They shouldn't have based the client on Chromium. Not everyone needs a current OS and besides some older games won't launch on W10 or it's going to be extra problematic to run them.
 

Eotheod

Member
actually best OS for productivity because it has many of the kernel/shell improvements from Windows 10 that people praise (and think that's the first version they came in), while having none of the annoyances like the notification bar, removal of control panel applets and redirecting them to mostly useless whitespace metro Settings, broken thumbnail generation in "Shell Experience Host", etc.
You do need to use a start menu replacement app in it, but you had to do that in Win10 before 1809 anyway, and now need to use in Win11 too.
It's really not that bad on Windows 10. Control panel is legacy, though obviously some elements still work through there. The settings menu sufficiently achieves what everyone needs, the computer's settings. Anything further then those basics are still accessible and are typically circumvented entirely with other software.
 

GHG

Member
Windows 10 is fine so not seeing the big deal. If your system isn't capable of running windows 10 smoothly then you'd be better off running a Linux install anyway.
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Within a year or two 90% of all Desktop PCs would be running Linux then.
considering their current initiative is to move away from Windows i don't see why they haven't done this already....

but yeah, Windows 10 is good. there's probably only like 10 people in the world who have a PC that can run Windows 7 and steam but not Windows 10 and Steam. just use it FFS, get off decade old software
 

Dr.Morris79

Member
considering their current initiative is to move away from Windows i don't see why they haven't done this already....

but yeah, Windows 10 is good. there's probably only like 10 people in the world who have a PC that can run Windows 7 and steam but not Windows 10 and Steam. just use it FFS, get off decade old software
NEVER! My Windows 7 build has years left! Years!

2O68cT8.gif




..I'm putting Linux on it.
 

.Pennywise

Banned
All of that whopping 1.86% Steam users will be outraged!

v405gaw.png


Now, talking seriously. If you're 15 years old OS levels of poverty, Steam shouldn't be one of your priorities to bother in life.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
To what? All windows after that are worse and worse. W11 = Vista 2.0
moving on to newer software doesnt exclusively mean windows... and Windows 10 & 11 are decent Operating systems.

If you're still using Windows 7 with the wealth of new software you've had available to you since 2020 that's a you problem and there's no excuse not to hop off that sinking ship. It's one of the best operating systems but it's not contemporary anymore, it's dated and a lot of software and hardware simply refuses to work with it. It's time to let go
 
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64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
11 really isn't. In fact it's probably one of the worst OS's they've ever put out, and that's saying something.
used it for a while and it's literally Windows 10 with a souped up UI. No compatibility is lost, no functions are removed, it's exactly just Windows 10 but with a new DE and some additional features like using the scroll wheel to adjust volume and file explorer tabs. Everything just works

It's not anything comparable to vista
 
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MikeM

Member
This is stupid.

If you got an older PC and don´t want to upgrade to 10/11 you can not play your games anymore.
Bring back physical pc games!

In all seriousness, this is the product of digital only. Storefronts tell you what you need.
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Time to step out of that ghetto and move the bar forward.

Some things separate from gaming I get but when you're trying to move ahead with updating the standard, I'm all for making this a thing. Not some anti consumer thing like some of the phone manufacturers do but something like this will hopefully increase the adoption of more games with modern features like direct storage. Or who am I kidding and just talking to myself now :messenger_sleeping:
 

GHG

Member
used it for a while and it's literally Windows 10 with a souped up UI. No compatibility is lost, no functions are removed, it's exactly just Windows 10 but with a new DE and some additional features like using the scroll wheel to adjust volume and file explorer tabs. Everything just works

It's not anything comparable to vista

Depends on what you use it for. If it's just gaming I can see how it would be fine but from a work/enterprise perspective it's a trash heap.

Not that I care too much anyway, my development machines run ubuntu.
 

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
If it's just gaming I can see how it would be fine
and it just so happens that you're discussing this topic on a gaming forum talking about a gaming related service which lets you play digitally downloaded video games, who woulda thunk it?!?! For most PC gamers on this board Windows is nothing more than a bootloader to Firefox, Retroarch and Steam. Maybe Discord. to which in that extent it works well. Most people don't care about the poweruser stuff

also why use ubuntu, theres so many better distros out there
Bring back physical pc games!

In all seriousness, this is the product of digital only. Storefronts tell you what you need.
yeah just like how games not working on XP after Windows 10's release was a product of digital only.. Or how PS3 games not working on PS2 is clearly just digital gaming's fault... get real
technology changes and older stuff will eventually stop working so well.
 
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GHG

Member
also why use ubuntu, theres so many better distros out there

It's what I'm comfortable with, it works and I know how to get them configured quickly.

At this point it's just a preference for what needs to get done on those machines, even if I'd actually prefer popOS or manjaro if I were to use those machines for more general use.

Fair point on the gaming forum thing, but some people use their PC's for more than just gaming.
 
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DaGwaphics

Member
So many people are mad, It's time to move on from Windows 7 people lol.

I get that from a general computing standpoint, however there is a flip side to that. That being that some users like to have multiple VMs running with different versions of Windows because some games don't run as well on newer versions of Windows and then others keep their old computers with the different versions on there to continue to access old software.

Epic should try and nail down support for as many previous versions of Windows as possible, a nice feature for them to advertise now.
 

Sentenza

Member
Tbh if you refuse to upgrade from these older versions to newer Windows, you might as well just dual boot SteamOS 3 when it has an official ISO, not like you'd be missing much.
As a Steam Deck owner I've been all kinds of impressed with how many games just run without a single issue on Proton.
Hell, if you consider that the main exception is about games that aren't suited for a portable format more than anything, a desktop release for SteamOS would be a fairly viable option.

Still, not one I really feel the strong need for, frankly. Windows works just fine for me.
 
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