Blizzard Ends Windows XP and Vista Support for Popular Titles

R-T-B · Feb 21, 2017

Blizzard announced that support for several of its popular titles in Windows XP and Vista will be ending later this year. These titles include World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm.

Dropping support for these platforms makes sense from an economic standpoint. As a platform ages, it becomes increasingly hard to make software work with it without making it difficult to support modern technology and features. Windows XP in particular doesn't support above DirectX 9, severely limiting the abilities of a developer wishing to take advantage of modern graphics and effects. Vista, on the other hand, supports up to DirectX 11, but has such limited market share as to make it statistically irrelevant (XP market share hovers at slightly less than 10%, while Vista market share doesn't even register, according to netmarketshare.com).

Source: HardOCP

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

Xzibit · Feb 21, 2017

Ending Support for Windows XP and Vista

Blizzard Forums said:
Starting later this year, we will begin the process of ending support for Windows XP and Windows Vista in World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm. Microsoft ceased mainstream support for these versions of Windows in 2009 and 2012, respectively, but since a decent portion of our audience was still using them at the time, we continued supporting them. However, there have been three major Windows releases since Vista, and at this point, the vast majority of our audience has upgraded to one of the newer versions.

After these older operating systems are no longer supported, the games will not run on them, so we encourage any players who are still using one of the older OSes to upgrade to a newer version. We’ll be rolling out this change on a staggered schedule, and will post further notices as we get closer to making the change for each game.

Darn wont be able to Pew-Pew on XP and Vista anymore how sad

R-T-B · Feb 21, 2017

Xzibit said:
Ending Support for Windows XP and Vista

Yeah, that was supposed to be in the source list. TPU has been going down and losing data in my posts like crazy.

Fixed (the source list anyways, W1zzard has to look at the site).

Darn wont be able to Pew-Pew on XP and Vista anymore how sad

Yep, slow news day eh?

Prima.Vera · Feb 21, 2017

I have a Dell XPS M1710 gaming laptop which still plays like a rock star WOW and D3, but because of lack of quality drivers for Sound and Video, I am forced to stay on Windows XP. Which is OK, since it only has 3GB of RAM anyways, and is very sluggish with Win10.

So, yeah, I'm frustrated if I am no longer able to play those titles on my laptop.

bug · Feb 21, 2017

Does anyone realize Vista was actually released after WoW? Meaning Vista support was added to WoW and now it's being removed. We have a game outliving an OS release here.

londiste · Feb 21, 2017

bug said:
Does anyone realize Vista was actually released after WoW? Meaning Vista support was added to WoW and now it's being removed. We have a game outliving an OS release here.

theseus's paradox more than anything. wow is far from the same game it was back then.

R-T-B · Feb 21, 2017

bug said:
Does anyone realize Vista was actually released after WoW? Meaning Vista support was added to WoW and now it's being removed. We have a game outliving an OS release here.

Hell, XP 64-bit was released after WoW.

SaltyFish · Feb 22, 2017

Looking further in the source thread, it seems Blizzard is planning to do an OS query and start upgrade-nagging before eventually hard blocking XP/Vista users. Simply dropping official support would've been easier in my opinion. But I'm also somewhat amazed that a company is doing engine/back-end stuff that would potentially cause OS-compatibility issues for a game that's been out for more than 10 years old now. Usually companies just tinker around with game mechanics and other such content that's built on top of the engine, which shouldn't affect compatibility. Engine updates tend to be reserved for sequels and/or other future projects.

On side note, this announcement comes just ahead of Vista's upcoming EOL. While XP will have had much longer post-EOL support than Vista (for very understandable reasons), I wonder how long 7 will be supported after its eventual EOL in 2020. Maybe same or longer than 8/8.1?

Tartaros · Feb 22, 2017

SaltyFish said:
Looking further in the source thread, it seems Blizzard is planning to do an OS query and start upgrade-nagging before eventually hard blocking XP/Vista users. Simply dropping official support would've been easier in my opinion.

wut? I don't know where did you bring that from. Says clearly support will stop by end of the year.

Also blizzard has updated almost all its games to win10, even blackthorne. Another entirely different thing is bring content to those games.

kn00tcn · Feb 22, 2017

Prima.Vera said:
I have a Dell XPS M1710 gaming laptop which still plays like a rock star WOW and D3, but because of lack of quality drivers for Sound and Video, I am forced to stay on Windows XP. Which is OK, since it only has 3GB of RAM anyways, and is very sluggish with Win10.

So, yeah, I'm frustrated if I am no longer able to play those titles on my laptop.

how is win10 supposed to run on old hardware, isnt it missing drivers? (in fact, if it's missing gfx drivers, that would make the OS sluggish)

running xp online is a really bad idea, yes even if you're only opening the same games with the same launcher & never opening a web browser

Bjorn_Of_Iceland · Feb 23, 2017

how will koreans play their starcraft 1 then?

londiste · Feb 23, 2017

Bjorn_Of_Iceland said:
how will koreans play their starcraft 1 then?

not sure if serious, but:

blizzard said:
Starting later this year, we will begin the process of ending support for Windows XP and Windows Vista in World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone, and Heroes of the Storm.

Prima.Vera · Feb 23, 2017

kn00tcn said:
how is win10 supposed to run on old hardware, isnt it missing drivers? (in fact, if it's missing gfx drivers, that would make the OS sluggish)

running xp online is a really bad idea, yes even if you're only opening the same games with the same launcher & never opening a web browser

Sorry, you have to repeat that, I didn't understand what were you trying to say...
Win 10 has generic drivers which are very slow and lack features (ex: cannot enable laptop's woofer in sounds, and bass, treble, spatializer and equalizer are all missing; video drivers are way slower and full of artifacts, etc) , and is sluggish because of higher RAM reqs compared to XP

kn00tcn · Feb 24, 2017

Prima.Vera said:
Sorry, you have to repeat that, I didn't understand what were you trying to say...
Win 10 has generic drivers which are very slow and lack features (ex: cannot enable laptop's woofer in sounds, and bass, treble, spatializer and equalizer are all missing; video drivers are way slower and full of artifacts, etc) , and is sluggish because of higher RAM reqs compared to XP

how is there a video driver AT ALL on a dx9 geforce from a decade ago? i remember amd had trouble with 4 series (dx10) radeons on win8, while 7 series geforce is legacy for a long time

Prima.Vera · Feb 24, 2017

kn00tcn said:
how is there a video driver AT ALL on a dx9 geforce from a decade ago? i remember amd had trouble with 4 series (dx10) radeons on win8, while 7 series geforce is legacy for a long time

http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/8971/en-us

kn00tcn · Feb 25, 2017

Prima.Vera said:
http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/8971/en-us

i'm talking about windows 10, of course vista & 7 have one, that link also isnt for 8 either

Prima.Vera · Feb 25, 2017

works with this one. also Win10 has generic drivers as I said.

System Name	Pioneer
Processor	Ryzen R9 9950X
Motherboard	GIGABYTE Aorus Elite X670 AX
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 + A whole lotta Sunon and Corsair Maglev blower fans...
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Storage	Intel 905p Optane 960GB boot, +2x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
Display(s)	55" LG 55" B9 OLED 4K Display
Case	Thermaltake Core X31
Audio Device(s)	TOSLINK->Schiit Modi MB->Asgard 2 DAC Amp->AKG Pro K712 Headphones or HDMI->B9 OLED
Power Supply	FSP Hydro Ti Pro 850W
Mouse	Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless
Keyboard	WASD Code v3 with Cherry Green keyswitches + PBT DS keycaps
Software	Gentoo Linux x64 / Windows 11 Enterprise IoT 2024

System Name	Pioneer
Processor	Ryzen R9 9950X
Motherboard	GIGABYTE Aorus Elite X670 AX
Cooling	Noctua NH-D15 + A whole lotta Sunon and Corsair Maglev blower fans...
Memory	64GB (4x 16GB) G.Skill Flare X5 @ DDR5-6000 CL30
Video Card(s)	XFX RX 7900 XTX Speedster Merc 310
Storage	Intel 905p Optane 960GB boot, +2x Crucial P5 Plus 2TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs
Display(s)	55" LG 55" B9 OLED 4K Display
Case	Thermaltake Core X31
Audio Device(s)	TOSLINK->Schiit Modi MB->Asgard 2 DAC Amp->AKG Pro K712 Headphones or HDMI->B9 OLED
Power Supply	FSP Hydro Ti Pro 850W
Mouse	Logitech G305 Lightspeed Wireless
Keyboard	WASD Code v3 with Cherry Green keyswitches + PBT DS keycaps
Software	Gentoo Linux x64 / Windows 11 Enterprise IoT 2024

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Cooling	Noctua NH-D15
Memory	32GB(2x16) DDR5@6600MHz G-Skill Trident Z5
Video Card(s)	ZOTAC GAMING GeForce RTX 3080 AMP Holo
Storage	2TB SK Platinum P41 SSD + 4TB SanDisk Ultra SSD + 500GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD
Display(s)	Acer Predator X34 3440x1440@100Hz G-Sync
Case	NZXT PHANTOM410-BK
Audio Device(s)	Creative X-Fi Titanium PCIe
Power Supply	Corsair 850W
Mouse	Logitech Hero G502 SE
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Benchmark Scores	30FPS in NFS:Rivals

Processor	Intel i5-12600k
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Video Card(s)	EVGA GTX 1060 SC
Storage	500GB Samsung 970 EVO, 500GB Samsung 850 EVO, 1TB Crucial MX300 and 2TB Crucial MX500
Display(s)	Dell U3219Q + HP ZR24w
Case	Raijintek Thetis
Audio Device(s)	Audioquest Dragonfly Red :D
Power Supply	Seasonic 620W M12
Mouse	Logitech G502 Proteus Core
Keyboard	G.Skill KM780R
Software	Arch Linux + Win10

Processor	Ryzen 7800X3D
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Mouse	Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro SE
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VR HMD	HTC Vive Cosmos

Processor	Intel Core 2 QX6850
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Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Light Turbo
Storage	Not Enough!
Display(s)	Samsung T240HD
Case	NZXT Zero
Audio Device(s)	Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro
Power Supply	Thortech Thunderbolt Plus TTBPK00G 1000W
Mouse	Elecom M-DUX70BK
Keyboard	CM Storm Trigger (Cherry MX Brown)
Software	NOT Windows 10

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Memory	32 GB DDR4 3600mhz CL16 Crucial Ballistix
Video Card(s)	KFA2 RTX 3090 SG
Storage	WD Blue 3D 2TB + 2 x WD Black SN750 1TB
Display(s)	2 x Asus ROG Swift PG278QR / Samsung Q60R
Case	Corsair 5000D Airflow
Audio Device(s)	Evga Nu Audio + Sennheiser HD599SE + Trust GTX 258
Power Supply	Corsair RMX850
Mouse	Razer Naga Wireless Pro / Logitech MX Master
Keyboard	Keychron K4 / Dierya DK61 Pro
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System Name	Thakk
Processor	i7 6700k @ 4.5Ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte G1 Z170N ITX
Cooling	H55 AIO
Memory	32GB DDR4 3100 c16
Video Card(s)	Zotac RTX3080 Trinity
Storage	Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD / Intel 250GB SSD / Samsung Pro 512 SSD / 3TB Seagate SV32
Display(s)	Acer Predator X34 100hz IPS Gsync / HTC Vive
Case	QBX
Audio Device(s)	Realtek ALC1150 > Creative Gigaworks T40 > AKG Q701
Power Supply	Corsair SF600
Mouse	Logitech G900
Keyboard	Ducky Shine TKL MX Blue + Vortex PBT Doubleshots
Software	Windows 10 64bit
Benchmark Scores	http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12108888