Valve has officially announced it is ending support for Steam on all 32-bit Windows operating systems. The change is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026.
In the announcement, Valve explained that this change is necessary because "core features in Steam rely on system drivers and other libraries that are not supported on 32-bit versions of Windows."
According to Valve's data, this change will impact a very small portion of its user base. Currently, only 0.01% of Steam users are on Windows 10 32-bit, which is the only 32-bit operating system Steam still officially supports.
What Happens to 32-Bit Users After Jan 1, 2026?
For users who remain on a 32-bit operating system, Valve explained that existing Steam installations will not immediately stop working. However, they will no longer receive any updates, including critical security updates, and support will be unavailable.
Existing Steam Client installations will continue to function for the near term on Windows 10 32-bit but will no longer receive updates of any kind including security updates. Steam Support will be unable to offer users technical support for issues related to the old operating systems, and Steam will be unable to guarantee continued functionality of Steam on the unsupported operating system versions.
How to Keep Your Steam Client Updated
To continue receiving all Steam updates, security patches, and support, users must upgrade to a 64-bit version of Windows.This presents two main options:
- Windows 10 64-bit
- Windows 11 (which is 64-bit only)
While Microsoft's support for Windows 10 is ending, Valve has not yet announced a separate end-of-support date for Steam on Windows 10 64-bit. For now, 64-bit versions of Windows 10 will continue to be supported by Steam.
