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Technology evolves quickly and while, on many occasions, that’s something to celebrate, so too can this advancement leave us feeling left behind.
That’s certainly the experience of some Steam users who are no longer able to use the Valve client following a recent update.
Users were forewarned but it’s now official that Valve’s Steam client no longer supports or is able to run on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 systems.
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It’s not as simple as ‘updating your version of Windows’, as some pieces of tech simply just can’t support Microsoft’s latest operating systems.
Thankfully, the damage is minimal here as most users are running their PC’s on more recent software.
As reported by TweakTown, according to Valve’s Steam Hardware & Software survey for October 2024, only around 0.28% of users are running Windows 7.
A whopping 96.26% of users are, well, using Windows 10 or 11.
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For those who are using Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 though, it means that the Steam client will no longer update.
This doesn’t mean for certain that it’ll stop working altogether … yet.
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The Steam client should continue running for affected users but given that it’s no longer supported with updates, it stands to reason that problems may surface at some point.
In fact, even Valve has said that it is "unable to guarantee continued functionality of Steam” for those concerned.
Microsoft itself ended support for Windows 7 in 2020, with Windows 8’s support then coming to a halt in 2023.
As such, these operating systems are far more easily targetable by malware.
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If you’re still using one of those aforementioned systems, it’s certainly worth considering updating your kit but, of course, I recognise that can be a pricey endeavour and perhaps not feasible for all.
At least those affected will retain access to Steam for the time being but for how long that lasts is unknown.