Digital Extremes plans to phase out 32-bit and Windows XP support from Warframe

Over four years have passed since Microsoft dropped support for Windows XP, leaving the OS as a legacy platform an almost entirely abandoned by PC gamers, most of which have since moved to 64-bit operating systems like Windows 7 and Windows 10. 

Windows XP hails from 2001, making the OS almost seventeen years old, too old to be considered worth supporting on a modern multiplayer game like Warframe. In recent weeks, Digital Extremes has removed Nvidia particle effects from Warframe, prompting a more comprehensive list of changes that will modernise the game. Now, Digital Extremes has revealed their plans to drop support for 32-bit operating systems and DirectX 9, which by extension will remove support for Windows XP. 

Alongside these changes, Warframe’s minimum system requirements will change, making Windows 7 64-bit the minimum supported OS and DirectX 10 the minimum supported API, allowing Digital Extremes to cut away legacy code and support to enable the game to run more efficiently under modern APIs. Maintaining support for older OS’ and APIs will “limit Warframe’s development”, making support for legacy APIs unfeasible in the long term, especially given their lack of use by today’s PC gamers.