Windows 7 and newer required for the gaming platform

Jun 13, 2018 11:49 GMT  ·  By

Valve has recently announced that it would be giving up on Windows XP and Windows Vista on January 1, 2019, requiring users to upgrade to Windows 7 or newer to run its gaming platform.

In an announcement that was published today on its website, Valve explains that Steam needs technology which no longer supports these old platforms, so the company has no other choice than to leave XP and Vista behind as well.

“This means that after that date the Steam Client will no longer run on those versions of Windows. In order to continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through Steam, users will need to update to a more recent version of Windows,” Valve says.

Specifically, the company explains that the Google Chrome engine is the one powering Steam, and the most recent versions only support Windows 7 and above.

Upgrading is just a matter of time

Steam will continue to run on Windows XP and Windows Vista until the end of the year, but new features would no longer support these platforms.

“For the remainder of 2018 Steam will continue to run and to launch games on Windows XP and Windows Vista, but other functionality in Steam will be somewhat limited. For example, new features such as the new Steam Chat will not be available. We encourage all users on these operating systems to upgrade to newer versions of Windows in order to have ongoing access to the latest features of Steam, and to ensure future access to all games and other Steam content,” Valve says.

Windows XP was officially pulled by Microsoft in April 2014, and since then, the company hasn’t released any new updates for this OS version – except for an emergency patch for the WannaCry ransomware last year.

Approximately 4 percent of the systems worldwide are still running Windows XP at this point, but this number is likely to drop in the coming months, as more computers are upgraded.