Steam's latest update is no longer compatible with Windows 7 and 8

The latest Valve Steam client update introduces several new features, including gameplay recording. However, according to the update’s release notes, while Windows 7 and 8 users can still run the Steam app on their machines, they cannot install the latest update.

This version of the Steam client will no longer run on Windows 7 or Windows 8. Users on these OS versions will not automatically update to this new version of the Steam Client. See the Windows 7 and Windows 8 Support FAQ for additional details.

Valve clarifies on the page in question that while you can still use the existing version of Steam on Windows 7 and 8, the company will not provide support if something goes wrong, and “functionality will be further limited in the future.”

That’s because Steam is ditching support for these Windows versions entirely.

Steam is designed to work on modern versions of Windows and is currently not supported on Windows XP or Windows Vista. We’ve found that other software that we use (such as the Chrome web browser) has also stopped supporting Windows 7 and Windows 8, and new features in Steam rely on security updates introduced in Windows 10.

The move isn’t shocking. Microsoft officially ended extended security updates for Windows 7 in January 2023, and Google said last year that it would cease support for Chrome on Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 on January 15, 2024.

Still, some gamers remain on Windows 7. According to the Steam Hardware and Software Survey, nearly 0.28% of Steam users are on Windows 7. The only way for those users to get support for the latest versions of Steam is to upgrade to Windows 10 or Windows 11, as Microsoft no longer allows Windows 7 and Windows 8 users to update to Windows 10 for free.