Valve announced that players can potentially lose access to their library of Steam games in just a few days. That is if they don't upgrade to the latest operating system soon.

In their post, Valve announced that on January 1, 2024, “Steam will officially stop supporting the Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 operating systems.” They said that once that date passes, the client will no longer run for computers and laptops running said operating system. When that happens, players will no longer be able to open the client, much less access, download, and play their games. As of this article, players only have a few days left to upgrade their operating system, thanks to the fact that we are about to enter 2024.

They explained that this is because the client relies on “an embedded version of Google Chrome.” However, because this embedded version of Google Chrome no longer works on older Windows versions, the Steam Client will, in turn, stop working. Not only that, but they mentioned that future versions of the client require various Windows features and security updates, which are only available to Windows 10 and above. If you have been putting off upgrading your operating system to Windows 10 and above, take this as a sign to upgrade your operating system.

Although the support ends in 2024, Valve is strongly encouraging players to upgrade to the latest Windows operating system as soon as posisble. They mentioned various reasons for doing so, such as the fact that security updates and technical support for these operating systems have already ended. This makes older computers and laptops vulnerable to malware that can affect their gameplay experience, as well as potentially steal their Steam account credentials. This is a more permanent way of losing access to their game library, something that not even an upgraded operating system can solve.

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To summarize, players who are running Windows 7/8/8.1 on their computers and laptops will no longer be able to open the Steam Client past January 1, 2024. This is because the Steam client will stop working on old operating systems once 2024 comes around. To be able to keep accessing their game library, they must upgrade to Windows 10 or above. After upgrading, they can continue enjoying their Steam games library. If they don't, well, they will have to say goodbye to their games until they do upgrade.

That's all the information we have about how players can potentially lose access to their library of Steam games. Check out our gaming news articles for the latest in gaming news.