Valve has announced that Steam will soon stop supporting 32-bit Windows operating systems, but if you’re worried that might mean you, don’t fret: it almost certainly doesn’t.
In a news post, Valve says that it will end support for systems running 32-bit Windows instances on January 1st next year. Essentially, that means if you’re somehow still running a 32-bit version of Windows 10, it won’t be supported from New Year’s Day.
However, Valve quickly qualifies this announcement by clarifying that according to its Steam Hardware Survey, this decision will only apply to around 0.01% of systems, so it’s very unlikely that the end of 32-bit Windows support is going to affect you (although not impossible!).
If you’re still running Windows 10 and want to check whether or not you’ve got a 32-bit instance of the OS, all you need to do is head to the System menu, then About. You’ll see whether you’ve got a 64-bit or 32-bit Windows version there.
Windows 11 users need not fret; there is no 32-bit version of Windows 11, so if you’ve already upgraded to Microsoft’s latest operating system, then this move definitely won’t affect you.
Valve says that even when support ends, Steam will continue to function on 32-bit Windows 10 machines, but updates and support will no longer be available, so if some critical flaw appears that renders Steam unusable on Windows 10’s 32-bit version, you’ll have no recourse.
If you’re wondering why this is happening, Valve says it’s because core Steam features “rely on system drivers and other libraries that are not supported on 32-bit versions of Windows”.
Elsewhere in Steam news, the app’s age verification process recently kicked in for UK users, requiring that valid credit card details be entered if players want to access adult content on the platform.
Prior to that, the storefront saw itself mired in controversy when it removed certain adult games from its store, responding to pressure from payment processors (which also saw fellow digital storefront Itch.io make similar changes).
