Steam warns Windows 7 and 8.1 users now about end of support
Steam users who run the gaming platform on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 devices are now informed about the upcoming end of support. The message is a counter, saying that "Steam will stop running on Windows 7/8 in X days".
Valve Software announced in March 2023 that it would end support of its Steam platform on Windows 7 and 8 systems on January 1, 2024. The two operating systems are not supported by Microsoft, the company that created them, anymore, and software and hardware companies have started to end support for these systems ever since.
Steam users who still use Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 devices won't be able to run the client anymore come January 1, 2024. In other words: any game or DLC that has been bought on Steam can't be run anymore on these systems.
Valve Software gave two reasons for its decision. First, because the embedded Chromium core does not support Windows 7 or 8.1 anymore either, and second, because future Steam versions would rely on security and non-security features present only in Windows 10 and newer versions of the Windows operating system.
Both Windows 7 and 8.1 devices can be upgraded to Windows 10. Windows 10 has the same system requirements, and most devices should upgrade without larger issues. Microsoft changed the system requirements in Windows 11, and a good number of devices can't be upgraded to the latest Windows operating system because of that.
Windows 10 reaches end of support in October 2025. This gives Windows 7 and 8.1 users who have not upgraded yet more than 2 years of access to Steam, before another decision has to be made. Some may be able to upgrade their devices to Windows 11 to extent support further.
Most may not be able to do so because of the system requirements. A viable option in that case would be to switch to a Linux distribution, for which Steam is also available. It would ensure continued support for Steam on the device and thus all, or the majority of, games in the user's library.
Valve ended end of life warnings in the latest Steam update. The warnings are displayed if Steam is run on Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, macOS 10.11 or macOS 10.12 systems.
Now You: do you run Steam on a soon unsupported operating system?
Well time to go back to pirating games. No fcking way I’m installing window 10 on my PC. I say good riddance Steam. Plenty of games on GOG :)
I have a lot of games on steam and I’m on older windows (8-8.1 pls don’t laugh ;w;) and this is not right at all. Either get new PC very time they stop supporting that version of windows or bye.
That’s messed up, Steam is basically telling old window users “Either get the latest version of (pc company) or screw off. If you are stuck with the old pc, then you basically dumped all your money into those games for nothing and steam runs with it.
There is no reason to shut down the games, just shutdown the online services if its possible.
I have news for you… no one can “lock down” Windows 100% because it is proprietary.
When you can make reproducible builds and audit the source code maybe then we’ll talk.
Until then, you’re clueless!
Windows 7 is the greatest and last true iteration of Windows worth using. I’ll be locking down a machine to stick to the windows 7 steam setup on zero day 2024, and after that no more steam purchases.
Steam could at least give is a final day windows 7 client and leave us behind. Forcing me to upgrade? Never. Steam is dead to me now. I gave them a chance when my friends warned me, and Valve screwed us.
Thanks for the good days valve. Good bye.
How do you lock down a machine? Won’t steam stop working offline after a month or so?
My locked down Win-7-Pro is my recreational operating system, for reading RSS-Feeds and listening to live and recorded podcasts.
We were lied to when we were told XP couldn’t be secured, lied to when we were told Win-7 can’t be secured.
Yet Win-7 is so quiet (using NetLimiter) and so secure using a repeater, pulling radio signals and low data out of thin air, I call it ‘cyber-heaven’
Have a Blessed Day, 11r20 from TX
My locked down Win-7-Pro is my recreational operating system, for reading RSS-Feeds and listening to live and recorded podcasts.
We were lied to when we were told XP couldn’t be secured, lied to when we were told Win-7 can’t be secured.
Yet Win-7 is so quiet (using NetLimiter) and so secure using a repeater, pulling radio signals and low data out of thin air, I call it ‘cyber-heaven’
Have a Blessed Day, 11r20 from TX
I’ve stoped using steam right after CS GO became free. Win 7 deserves the trophy for the most
influental OS for Steam. Even 8.1 was good on this.
It’s not that Steam is dropping support.. it’s WHY they’re dropping support – their embedded Chromium crap that the Steam client relies on is gonna stop working with Windows 7… really guys? How is this anything but a lesson in not taking shortcuts and relying on 3rd parties for crucial things?
I also agree with all the people in the comments talking about true ownership of games, nice to see others hold this principled belief!
Good riddance to Steam. This is actually a good thing for Windows 7 users. They can finally leave behind the legacy DRM heavy platforms for more free platforms where you actually own your games rather than rent them like you do from Steam.
GOG and itch.io are good choices.
Windows 7 is still more than adequate for me because I no longer play video games or use any electron-based junk.
We use steam on win 10 and have a relatively small library of games but it is growing because these days most games are only available to download with no hard copies made.
We do use steamless (modifies the exe so you don’t need to have steam running so long as there is no other drm present).
We also use other methods to run games we’ve bought, completely offline.
We also prefer GoG when possible but they don’t get many AAA titles.
It’s decisions like these that cause many customers who could easily, and would happily, pay for games to turn to piracy.
That said, we already made plans for this. We’ve already started a “PC replacement savings fund” with a target of about 5 to 6K to build 2 new PC’s just before win 10 support ends.
>”the embedded Chromium core does not support Windows 7 or 8.1 anymore”
Just one more reason (besides horrendous security and Google killing extensions) why companies (and users) should avoid binding their projects to chromium-based technology.
I don’t run Steam; I’m not a gamer or at least not in the sense of digital games. I do occasionally play traditional games on-line and at this time three :
‘Simon Says Game’ at [https://www.mathsisfun.com/games/simon-says.html]
‘Snake Game’ at [https://playsnake.org/]
‘Super Master Mind’ at [https://supermastermind.github.io/playonline/game.html]
Chess, as Poker, includes the pleasure of live human opponents, in front, around you.
So as a Windows7 user I won’t be concerned by Steam’s service latest Windows OS requirement.
My father, as an user of W7, could say exactly the same! I remember with happiness when my father put the Super Mario Bros using flash-plugin (or whatever). I think that W7’s users are really the latest happier users of Microsoft OS. And the “Simon says”, what a great game indeed, what a great times! Thank you @Tom. :]
“. In other words: any game or DLC that has been bought on Steam can’t be run anymore on these systems.”
not true. depending on the game you dont need the steamclient at all to run them (or use an emulator).
btw better alternative is to swich to GoG asap if you havent already. (may be new to some ppl, but in a proper real world, games can and should be downloaded once and then used as often as you want w/o any launcher or online need dependency (unless its an online game) )
tl;dr just dont buy games from a platform that adds artificial dependencies and decide above customer heads