STEAM, the biggest online storefront for PC games, is changing the availability of purchased games.
Those who have a Steam library of games on their PC could be at risk of losing access.
Fortunately, the change will not affect the Steam Deck.
From January 1, 2024, Steam’s client from which you download and run games will no longer function on certain devices.
Steam is removing support for computers running Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 after this date.
If you are currently using these operating systems, you will have to upgrade to a newer version of Windows in order to play your games.
All games purchased through Steam run through the Steam client even if they are already downloaded.
So even if you download your games before this date you will be unable to play them.
You can find out what version of Windows you are currently running in your system’s settings.
The reason it will apparently no longer work is that Google is removing support for Chrome on these operating systems in 2024.
As Steam runs on a version of Google Chrome, it will also cease to work after this date.
A statement from Steam reads: “As of January 1, 2024, Steam will officially stop supporting the Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 operating systems.
“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.
“In addition, future versions of Steam will require Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 10 and above.”
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
