Steam will drop Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 Support

[Daniel Garner]

Hey guys!

Today I started up Steam like I usually do until I noticed this: "Steam will stop running on Windows 8.1 in 279 days."

 

So yeah, whilst I have 279 days to update (while writing this) I sure wasn't expecting this so soon.

Why is this happening ? Well if you click on the message it sends you to:

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6E66-54EC-3EFC-283C

Which gives information on why XP and Vista were no longer supported. Kinda sloppy not updating it yet for 7, 8 and 8.1, huh ? They do this due to:

"The newest features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of Windows."

And that was for XP and Vista, now probably being the same reason for 7, 8 and 8.1.

 

So how many people does this account for ? Well according to:

https://gs.statcounter.com/windows-version-market-share

5.39 % use Windows 7, 0.52 % use Windows 8 and 1.15 % use Windows 8.1 on February. Which amounts to 7.06 % of the Windows market share.

https://www.bloggersideas.com/how-many-windows-users-are-there-in-the-world/ says there are 1.4 BILLION Windows users. Now, if we do some math: 1.4 billion/100 = 14 million. If we take 14 * 7.06 = 98.84 Million. Jesus!

 

Now, I know that not everyone is gaming on these machines. According to: https://www.statista.com/statistics/265033/proportion-of-operating-systems-used-on-the-online-gaming-platform-steam/ only 1.6 % of Steam users have Windows 7. For 8 and 8.1 there isn't an individual category and they are counted into the "Other" category. Fine we'll count the entire "Other" category as-well . 14 * 5.69 = 79.66 Million. Christ !

 

So. Whilst these 79.66 Million PCs aren't all on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, they still are going to need to update, not to mention their PCs as-well.

 

 

 

Conclusion: Steam will be dropping support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. Currently 79.66 Million people have to upgrade.

 

Edit: The comment for Steam only giving information on why XP and Vista and not 7, 8 and 8.1 is now invalid. I will still leave it in, because:

1. I'm lazy.

2. I don't think it's harmful to leave it in.

 

Here's the link: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/4784-4F2B-1321-800A             And yes, Google Chrome is the reason...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2023 by Daniel Garner
New information and more text (see edit history)

[kerdios]

And what about Linux distros?

[Daniel Garner]

@kerdios

I'm unfamiliar with Linux Distros but they might be affected too.

[Ren_DOTA]

This seems pretty harmful for game preservation. Will Steam remove their DRM from older titles? I doubt it.

It would be nice if someone could dig up Steam games that don't work properly on W10 as examples. I've seen one person raise this issue with Steam support, but the customer in question didn't specify any games, and support staff basically told him to go away.