Valve has announced that Steam will drop support for Windows XP and Windows Vista from January 1, 2019. What this means is, if you're still on either OS, your Steam games will not be playable until you upgrade to a more recent version of Microsoft's operating system. The reason for this is Steam works on an embedded version of Google Chrome that doesn't work on older versions of Windows either. With upcoming versions of Steam dependent on Windows features and security updates that don't support Windows OSes that predate Windows 7, it means upgrading is mandatory.
"Starting on January 1 2019, Steam will officially stop supporting the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. This means that after that date the Steam Client will no longer run on those versions of Windows. In order to continue running Steam and any games or other products purchased through Steam, users will need to update to a more recent version of Windows," a post from Valve reads.
"The newest features in Steam rely on an embedded version of Google Chrome, which no longer functions on older versions of Windows. In addition, future versions of Steam will require Windows feature and security updates only present in Windows 7 and above."
For the rest of 2018 Steam games will work on Windows XP and Vista though other features like the new Steam Chat won't work.
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