Valve announces that the number of Windows versions supported by the Steam platform will decrease. Three versions of Microsoft’s operating system are affected. The end date of support is January 1, 2024. That is, in just a few days.
Whether on computer, tablet or smartphone, there are two types of users. On the one hand, there are those who adopt new technologies very quickly. They want to discover the new functions offered. And they regularly update their operating system, either through an update or by changing platforms. On the other hand, there are those who are happy with their purchase and do not want to unbalance the operation.
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The reasons are varied: they fear having to change their habits, they want to amortize their investment, they doubt the benefit of an update, their professional tools are not compatible with more recent OS versions, etc. In the Windows ecosystem, these users represent approximately 5% of the installed baseaccording to the dashboard of StatCounter dating from 2023. In these 5%, you find all the versions of the OS for which Microsoft abandoned technical support in 2023 or previously.
Here are the versions of Windows that will no longer be compatible with Steam in 2024
And, naturally, when Microsoft discontinues older versions of Windows, all of these partners will do the same. This is the case of Valve, the owner of the famous dematerialized store Steam. As announced at the start of the year, the publisher confirms that technical support three old versions of Windows will be abandoned. The reason: Steam relies on a Chrome function to work and Google has updated this function, which no longer supports old versions of Windows. Here are the three versions of Windows affected:
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
- Windows 8.1
What exactly does this mean? This means that if you play on Steam with one of these versions of Windows, you will no longer be able to update your Steam client for new features, fixes, and security updates. Technical support for these versions will end on January 1, 2024. Or at the beginning of next week. Valve confirms that the client will continue to function after this date, but does not guarantee that all functions will be accessible, or how long they will remain accessible.
Source: Valve