Valve has announced that, starting on January 1, 2024, Steam will no longer support Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1. Once the deadline arrives, Steam will only support Windows 10, Windows 11, and beyond.
In its announcement, Valve stated that the decision was made due to the storefront making use of an embedded version of Google Chrome, which itself no longer supports older versions of Windows. Valve has also stated that future versions of Steam will need Windows 10 and above since the platform makes use of Windows features and security updates.
The company has stated that, while the deadline for support on older versions of Windows ending is slated for 2024, it encourages Steam users to move on to Windows 10 or above sooner rather than later. It is also worth noting that Valve supported Windows 7 through Steam longer than Microsoft, which officially ended support for the old operating system back in 2020.
Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, on the other hand, recently saw support ending from Microsoft in January 2023.