Steam says goodbye to Windows Xp and Vista in 2019

If for some odd reason you're still using Windows XP or Windows Vista, you slowly have no place to run. Both of these operating systems are no longer supported by Microsoft and, over the last couple of years, an increasing number of third-party developers have dropped support. Another major shoe to drop is Valve's announcement that it's phasing out support.

Starting from January 1, 2019, Steam will no longer run on Windows XP and Vista. For the remainder of 2018, Steam will continue to run on these operating systems, but certain new features will be exclusively available for Windows 7 and newer.

Valve says part of the reason why they're dropping support is because the newest Steam features require an embedded version of Chrome, and that browser isn't available on older versions of Windows. Furthermore, upcoming versions of Steam will require features and security updates that are exclusively present in Windows 7 and newer.

Starting on January 1 2019, Steam will officially stop supporting the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. 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.

The newest features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of Windows. In addition, future versions of Steam will require Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 7 and above.

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.