![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
It means you won't be able to run the live version of Steam on those operating systems anymore. The reason being extended security update support for 7, 8, and 8.1 ended in January this year. The extra year Steam is giving users is a grace period to give them time to upgrade.
If you're running a vintage system then you should be buying your games from GOG, anyway, if you don't have physical copies. You can download standalone installers for all games you purchase there.It should not be a problem in most cases. One exception would be retro / vintage computers. Steam has been around long enough that it would be used to load many older games even on those computers. Most 32-bit x86 computers for example. Even though there is a 32-bit version of Windows 10, it still requires a CPU with NX-bit support. Very few 32-bit CPUs support NX-bit. So for 99% of computers with 32-bit CPUs, Windows 7 would be the newest OS that you could install on it (Windows 8 also requires NX-bit). So I guess if you have a retro rig, make sure that you install your games before then, and hope that it doesn't require steam to actually launch the game.
Again, not a problem in most cases, but it does remind us of the depressing reality of games that are tied into platforms like Steam. It's not like years past where you actually owned the game. If you still have your old 35+ year old Nintendo console for example, you can still hook it up and play it the same as the day it was new. For a game on Steam, you can only play it for as long as they allow you to play it. Though they might give you a chance to buy it again some day
GOG launched in 2008 and allowed activation of Steam keys on its service for a time.
It should not be a problem in most cases. One exception would be retro / vintage computers. Steam has been around long enough that it would be used to load many older games even on those computers. Most 32-bit x86 computers for example. Even though there is a 32-bit version of Windows 10, it still requires a CPU with NX-bit support. Very few 32-bit CPUs support NX-bit. So for 99% of computers with 32-bit CPUs, Windows 7 would be the newest OS that you could install on it (Windows 8 also requires NX-bit). So I guess if you have a retro rig, make sure that you install your games before then, and hope that it doesn't require steam to actually launch the game.
Again, not a problem in most cases, but it does remind us of the depressing reality of games that are tied into platforms like Steam. It's not like years past where you actually owned the game. If you still have your old 35+ year old Nintendo console for example, you can still hook it up and play it the same as the day it was new. For a game on Steam, you can only play it for as long as they allow you to play it. Though they might give you a chance to buy it again some day
At least for groups preserving games, one "legit" avenue of acquisition may be shuttering thanks to book publishers.
It should not be a problem in most cases. One exception would be retro / vintage computers. Steam has been around long enough that it would be used to load many older games even on those computers. Most 32-bit x86 computers for example. Even though there is a 32-bit version of Windows 10, it still requires a CPU with NX-bit support. Very few 32-bit CPUs support NX-bit. So for 99% of computers with 32-bit CPUs, Windows 7 would be the newest OS that you could install on it (Windows 8 also requires NX-bit). So I guess if you have a retro rig, make sure that you install your games before then, and hope that it doesn't require steam to actually launch the game.
Again, not a problem in most cases, but it does remind us of the depressing reality of games that are tied into platforms like Steam. It's not like years past where you actually owned the game. If you still have your old 35+ year old Nintendo console for example, you can still hook it up and play it the same as the day it was new. For a game on Steam, you can only play it for as long as they allow you to play it. Though they might give you a chance to buy it again some day
GoG dropped support for installers for some definition of “vintage” ie. WinXP. Presumably they will drop support for Win7/8 installers at some point too. Just something to keep in mind.
There are features from DirectX 8 and older that are not reproduced accurately on modern hardware due to the features being deprecated. The hardware literally cannot produce the image without software interpretation. Then you have other legacy 3D APIs like Glide. Software wrappers do a pretty decent job these days, but again they're not 100% accurate since there is detail lost in translation to DirectX 11/12 or Vulkan calls. There are other APIs still that have no modern solution to get working, such as Rendition as far as I know.
They're largely cutting support because Google is no longer supporting the underlying Chrome tech for those versions of Windows. If anything, Valve is being (slightly) kind by giving users several months to plan their next move.
no*, but you cant play until you update to a current, support os.