As of January 1, 2026, Steam will stop supporting systems running 32-bit versions of Windows. Windows 10 32-bit is the only 32-bit version that is currently supported by Steam and is only in use on 0.01% of systems reported through the Steam Hardware Survey. Windows 10 64-bit will still be supported...
No one uses 32 bit Windows (especially for gaming), but at least we might at last get a 64 bit verison of the Steam client on Windows.
Never really considered that games don’t stop running on legacy hardware, but the Steam client does. GOG‘s way of downloadable installers is preferably.
When 7 and 8 support was fully dropped (where the newest Steam client requires 10 or above to run at all), Steam clients on older OSes were not updated automatically. It’s only if you manually try to update the launcher, it would “brick” your installations.
I agree that GOG’s method will stand the test of time better (as we wouldn’t have to archive specific versions of Steam), but for those with existing setups you aren’t SOL right away when support ends.
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Never really considered that games don’t stop running on legacy hardware, but the Steam client does. GOG‘s way of downloadable installers is preferably.
At least you can easily run 32 bit applications on 64 bit operating systems and hardware without performance penalty
https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/steam-drops-windows-7-and-8-support-with-the-latest-client-users-told-to-update-to-a-more-recent-version-of-windows-to-continue-gaming
When 7 and 8 support was fully dropped (where the newest Steam client requires 10 or above to run at all), Steam clients on older OSes were not updated automatically. It’s only if you manually try to update the launcher, it would “brick” your installations.
I agree that GOG’s method will stand the test of time better (as we wouldn’t have to archive specific versions of Steam), but for those with existing setups you aren’t SOL right away when support ends.
It’s still kinda shitty. There’s better way to archive the old version of steam but leave it readily available.