Valve's latest Steam client update no longer support Windows 7 and Window 8 systems

As of November 2024, the latest version of Valve's Steam PC client no longer supports or runs on Windows 7 or Windows 8 systems. Per the release and patch notes for the recent Steam Client Update from November 5, users with these older Microsoft operating systems will no longer have their Steam client automatically updated.

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Windows 8 + Steam = the stuff of nightmares.

Valve warned users about the change, announcing quite a while ago that as of January 1, 2024, Steam would stop officially supporting the Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems. Steam will likely still work on these systems, but with no more updates, Valve will be "unable to guarantee continued functionality of Steam."

The good news is that only a fraction of PC gamers are affected. According to Valve's latest Steam Hardware & Software Survey results for October 2024, 96.26% of all PC gamers on the platform are running either Windows 11 or Windows 10 - with only 0.28% running Windows 7.

Still, due to the sheer number of PC gamers running Steam, many people are still running Windows 7. These users cannot access or use Valve's brand-new Steam Game Recording feature, which is part of the latest client release.

Why are these operating systems no longer supported? Steam relies heavily on an embedded version of Google Chrome that no longer "functions on older versions of Windows." Also, the Steam client requires certain OS features and security updates that are only available on Windows 10 and above.

The move is unsurprising, as Microsoft officially ended its support for Windows 7 in 2020 and Windows 8 in 2023. Systems running these operating systems are more susceptible to malware and security breaches.