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Steam announces end of support for Windows 10 32-Bit, saying only 0.01% of PCs are still running it

Rich Stanton

19 September 2025

The change happens on January 1st, 2026.

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Valve has announced Steam will be ending support for 32-bit versions of Windows 10 at the turn of the year, citing the fact that only 0.01% of current Steam users are on the operating system. The 64-bit versions of Windows 10 will continue to be supported.

“As of January 1 2026, Steam will stop supporting systems running 32-bit versions of Windows,” reads a Valve blogpost. “Windows 10 32-bit is the only 32-bit version that is currently supported by Steam and is only in use on 0.01% of systems reported through the Steam Hardware Survey. Windows 10 64-bit will still be supported and 32-bit games will still run.”
The only solution for those still hanging on to their beloved 32-bit jalopies is to upgrade.

Related Articles

Steam for Chromebooks is getting axed in 2026 instead of exiting its 4-year beta

Developers of Linux distro Fedora propose dropping 32-bit support entirely, but it’s being claimed that the change ‘would kill off projects like Bazzite entirely’

When Microsoft finally pulls the plug on Windows 10 its successor will be four years old, and for three of those, it was never the OS of choice amongst Steam users

“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. To ensure continued updates and compatibility, users should update to a 64-bit version of Windows.

“This change is required as core features in Steam rely on system drivers and other libraries that are not supported on 32-bit versions of Windows. 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.”

Valve has arguably held on longer than most: Microsoft first announced it would be ending support for 32-bit systems back in 2020. Heck, the company is way past Windows 10 at this point, as anyone still running Windows 10 will know from the constant wheedling requests to upgrade.
Those current Steam users on Windows 10 32-bit will find that the client should “continue to function for the near term” but there will be no further updates.

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Rich Stanton

Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years’ experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as “[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike.”

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Steam for Chromebooks is getting axed in 2026 instead of exiting its 4-year beta

Developers of Linux distro Fedora propose dropping 32-bit support entirely, but it’s being claimed that the change ‘would kill off projects like Bazzite entirely’

When Microsoft finally pulls the plug on Windows 10 its successor will be four years old, and for three of those, it was never the OS of choice amongst Steam users

Final Fantasy 14 warns players that it’s time for an upgrade as Microsoft gears up to end support for Windows 10: ‘Support for this operating system is a difficult proposition’

Microsoft yanks the plug on Windows 11 SE, giving school and college IT techs a little over a year to find a suitable replacement

Windows 95, arguably the first PC gaming OS, is still being used… to sort eggs in Germany

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