As of January 1st, 2024, Steam has officially ended support for Windows 8 and 8.1 operating systems. It means that the estimated less than 2% of Steam’s 132 million monthly active users still on these legacy Microsoft platforms will no longer receive software updates, including security patches, that keep games functioning properly.
The move comes as no surprise, as Steam first announced plans to drop Windows 8/8.1 last March. With Windows 8 having reached end-of-life status in 2016 and Windows 8.1’s support ending on January 10th, 2023, Steam has based its decision on the need for more modern system requirements.
Specifically, core components of the Steam platform now rely on the latest builds of Google Chrome, which only support Windows 10 and later.
Microsoft itself ceased releasing patches and updates for Windows 8 over 3 years ago. And support for the slightly newer Windows 8.1 wrapped up just days ago. So Steam dropping these operating systems was inevitable.
While a small fraction of hardcore retro gamers may cling to the older platforms, most Windows 8/8.1 users will now need to upgrade to Windows 10 or 11 to continue enjoying Steam’s library of games.
And with Windows 10 support also ending in 2025, the clock is ticking for remaining holdouts to modernize before they get cut off from the latest gaming technologies.
The demise of Windows 8 compatibility underscores the continual evolution of computer gaming towards more and more demanding hardware and software requirements.
Gamers still on older PCs should take Steam’s announcement as a clear sign that the time has come to upgrade their machines or risk losing access to new titles. For better or worse, the era of Windows 8 gaming has drawn to a close.
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