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⇱ Steam Will End Windows 32-bit OS Support Next Year - Hopefully Linux Follows - Phoronix


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Steam Will End Windows 32-bit OS Support Next Year - Hopefully Linux Follows

Written by Michael Larabel in Valve on 18 September 2025 at 08:48 PM EDT. 92 Comments
Valve is finally pushing the Steam client beyond the 32-bit world, at least for Microsoft Windows.

Valve announced via Steam Support that beginning January 2026 they will no longer be supporting 32-bit versions of Windows. There will continue to be 32-bit game support on Steam but the Steam client itself will no longer support 32-bit Windows.

Existing Steam client installations on Windows 10 32-bit will continue to work but will no longer receive any updates or Steam Support. Valve is encouraging all Windows games to move to a 64-bit Windows operating system.

All the details on the ending of 32-bit Windows support as of 1 January 2026 can be found via this Steam Support ticket.

Sadly there is no word at this time on Valve ending 32-bit Linux support or rather putting the Steam Linux client squarely in a 64-bit world. That is something many Linux gamers and distribution vendors would desire as Steam continues to be one of the main Linux 32-bit users out there with nearly all other major software happily living in a 64-bit world without the 32-bit dependencies... Steam on Linux unfortunately continues to carry many 32-bit library dependencies. Here's to hoping that day of avoiding the Steam Linux 32-bit mess isn't too far away.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.