Steam will be ending support for personal computers powered by the 32-bit version of Windows from Jan. 1, 2026, according to a post made on the company's website on Thursday.
The digital storefront and game-launching application said that Windows 10's 32 bit version was the only one that it supported and that it would be shifting support solely for Windows 64 bit systems. Games configured to run for 32 bit architecture will still be supported.
The 32-bit versions of Steam will also continue to run on all devices but will not receive further updates.
Microsoft will be taking similar measures, ending support for Windows 10 devices by Oct. 14 2026. However, it will continue supporting 64 bit versions of Windows 10.
This change is brought about due to core features in Steam that require system drivers and other libraries that 32-bit versions of Windows do not support.
"Future versions of Steam will run on 64-bit versions of Windows only. We strongly encourage all 32-bit Windows users to update sooner rather than later," the website said.
This change is not expected to impact a substantial number of users as Steam said that the 32 bit versions of Windows were only in use on 0.01% of systems using Steam, according to the Steam Hardware Survey.
"Windows 10 64-bit will still be supported and 32-bit games will still run," the company said.
Steam can also be accessed via the Xbox PC application as one of the many digital storefronts that users will be able to access through it. Users will be able to seamlessly switch between Xbox's native storefront and Steam without switching tabs or applications.
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