Valve has announced that its digital game distribution service Steam will no longer support 32-bit versions of the Windows operating system starting January 1, 2026. Currently, the only such version compatible with Steam is Windows 10 32-bit.
According to the Steam Hardware Survey, only 0.01% of users are using this version of the OS. According to Engadget, with an average of over 36 million daily active users, the changes will only affect a few thousand players.
After the end of support, the Steam client on Windows 10 32-bit will continue to work, but updates and technical support will no longer be provided. This decision coincides with Microsoft's plans to end support for Windows 10, including security updates, on October 14, 2025.
Valve will continue to support Steam on Windows 10 64-bit. Windows 11, which was released without a 32-bit version, became the first Microsoft OS without such an option since the introduction of 32-bit support in Windows NT in 1993.
The company explained that key Steam features depend on system drivers and libraries that are no longer supported on 32-bit versions of Windows, which was one of the reasons for dropping compatibility with them.