Valve in the latest survey noticed that several users were moving away from the older operating systems. At the time of writing, the Steam Hardware & Software survey for November 2023 revealed that 0.81% of Steam users use Windows 7, 8, and 8.1 combined. Compared to Windows 10’s 53.53% share and Windows 11’s 42.04% share, it’s clear that Valve’s attention is better served elsewhere.
As stated on Steam Support: official statement
After [January 1st 2024], existing Steam Client installations on these operating systems will no longer receive updates of any kind including security updates. Steam Support will be unable to offer users technical support for issues related to the old operating systems, and Steam will be unable to guarantee continued functionality of Steam on the unsupported operating system versions.
Unfortunately, any stragglers who want to upgrade their operating systems will be in for a bit of a shock. Back in September 2023, Microsoft fixed a loophole that allowed users to upgrade from Windows 7 to 11 for free. And given the strict hardware requirements for Windows 11, it’s unlikely that a PC designed for Windows 8.1 or earlier is modern enough to support Windows 11 natively. As such, it’s best to upgrade to a new PC to continue using Steam.
