Skip to main content

Steam to drop support for Windows XP and Vista on January 1

Steam store 2019
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Valve’s Steam Store has come a long way since it first debuted in 2003, adding support for a number of operating systems over the years. Some have fallen at the wayside though and starting on Tuesday, January 1, Windows XP and Windows Vista will join that list. After that date, the client will not run on those operating systems, forcing anyone still using them to upgrade or face not being able to play their favorite games anymore.

Although backward compatibility and legacy support are hallmarks of the PC platform, there are a number of good reasons for removing support for aging operating systems. Security is a major concern, but compatibility is an issue, too. Older platforms can hold back features and enhancements that could otherwise be enjoyed by modern PC users.

Recommended Videos

So, starting on the first of the first 2019, Steam will no longer support XP and Vista. Its reasons are much the same: security and features. Valve explained earlier in 2018 that the new version of Steam relied on advanced Chrome features which are not possible in older operating systems than Windows 7. It would also leverage security improvements found only in more modern operating systems moving forward.

Valve joins a near-exhaustive list of platform providers and game developers which have moved on from the aging operating systems. Blizzard ended its support for XP in 2017 after more than a year of quiet, background support following its original official axing of the platforms the year before. Microsoft ended extended support for XP and Vista in 2014 and 2017, respectively, making them completely vulnerable to a variety of malicious software attacks.

Fortunately, the number of people using these platforms continues to fall. The latest Steam Hardware Survey reports that just 0.11 percent of gamers still run Steam on Windows XP 32 bit. Windows Vista has so little use that it isn’t even noted. NetMarketShare highlights that there are still a lot of XP users in the wider PC community though. More than 4.1 percent of all PC users still run Windows XP — that’s only a little behind Windows 8.1. Windows 7 and 10 enjoy the largest user bases with 41.41 and 35.85 percent, respectively.

Although some will shed a tear at Windows Vista and XP passing further into gaming history, there are very good reasons to upgrade beyond those aged and outdated platforms. We’d certainly recommend it.

If you just want your OS to look like Windows XP, though, you can always tweak Windows 10 to look just like it.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
Baldur’s Gate 3 is gunning for the top of the Steam charts with jaw-dropping stats
Jaheira in Baldur's Gate 3.

Baldur's Gate 3 left early access and officially launched on August 3, and it's seeing an unprecedented level of success. At the time of writing, the peak player count for the game is hovering around 537, 000, according to data from SteamDB.

Baldur's Gate 3 saw steady growth in player count ahead of its early access launch in recent weeks, and that player count number has only continued to skyrocket. Right now, Baldur's Gate 3 is the third most concurrently played game on Steam. The only games Baldur's Gate 3 is lagging behind are Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and DOTA 2, two popular multiplayer games with massive communities. PUBG: Battlegrounds, the game in fourth place, is around 200,000 players behind Larian Studios' latest.

Read more
Don’t worry; Armored Core VI is ‘fully supported’ on Steam Deck
A boss fight in Armored Core 6.

Following a hands-on preview of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, we had a chance to talk to the game's director, Masaru Yamamura, and producer Yasunori Ogura who wanted to assure players that the game would be "fully supported" on Valve's Steam Deck.

"Obviously seeing how well Elden Ring performed on the Steam Deck, we were very happy, and we wanted to at least create that as a baseline going forward for this handheld," Ogura tells Digital Trends. "So it is fully supported for Steam Deck ... we just want to reassure players that it will be fully supported."

Read more
Ranking all 12 versions of Windows, from worst to best
Windows 7 desktop.

You can tell a person's age by which version of Windows is their favorite. I have fond memories of XP and Windows 98 SE, so you can take a guess at mine, but I have colleagues who are much more enamored with Windows 7 or Windows 95. We all have something disparaging to say about Windows 8 though, and the less said about Windows Vista the better.

Ranking the different versions of Windows is about more than what era of computing you grew up in, though. There are some very serious duds in Microsoft's back catalog, just as there are a few wins too. With Windows 11 constantly improving it's worth looking back at some of all the previous versions, ranked from the absolute worst to the very best.
12. Windows ME

Read more