Blizzard will end support for games on Windows XP and Vista in October

Blizzard has announced that it will end support for Windows XP and Windows Vista in some of the developer’s games. It concerns well-known titles such as World of Warcraft, Starcraft II, Diablo III, Hearthstone and Heroes of the Storm.

Blizzard says that from October the games will no longer run on Windows XP or Vista. The cessation of support will be done in phases, the game company says. Blizzard points to the fact that Microsoft ended regular support for Windows XP and Vista in 2009 and 2012 as the reason for the discontinuation of support.

The game company has continued to support the two outdated versions of Windows after 2012, as a fairly large proportion of Blizzard gamers continued to use the old operating systems. After Windows Vista, three major versions of Windows have appeared and according to Blizzard, the vast majority of gamers have now switched to one of these newer versions. The company does not disclose how many players are still on XP and Vista.

Blizzard is calling on people who still play one of these games on Windows XP or Vista to start using a newer version of Windows. The end of support will be phased in from October. Blizzard announced in February that it would end support later this year.