Why Don't Old Games Work on New Computers?

Why can it be such a challenge to get older games to work on new computers - even ones built for gaming?





Intro Theme: Showdown by F.O.O.L from Monstercat - Best of 2016

[thedrummerdude]

1998: Our computers aren't powerful enough!
2020: Our computers are too powerful god dammit

[henryw]

Why don’t new games work on old computers?

[scienceface]

"Try buying it on Steam!"
How do you think I got into this mess in the first place?

[watchaccountfordk]

"You finally built your gaming pc." Uses a laptop

[Kaiyats]

“You wouldn’t download a car”
I would if I was able to lol

[martinrusso]

Ironically, GTA 3 worked fine on my 64 bit Windows 10 laptop.

[tamoghnapal]

Also for someone wants to know, older versions of GTA 4 no longer worked in Windows 10, but when GTA 4 was re released in 2020 after the end of GFWL, it's extremely compatible with new Windows 10, it even solved the infamous GPU VRAM issue on the game, the only thing bad about the game is that it doesn't support mods anymore..

[RoundedHalo-nypv]

Its 3:00 am
I dont need sleep, i need answers

[JaggedJack]

"built the gaming PC of your dreams" - playing on a laptop

[erica]

"Nostalgia is a helluva drug." you got that right, man.

Edit: Seriously, i did not think my comment would get so many thumbs up.. thank you!

[thebettercookie]

0:10 "Spent the last 2 months locked inside your room"
*Laughs in 2020*

[khalidkhalid]

2:55 is it even legal to own a nuclear reactor like that
..

[stackflow]

"You wouldn't download a car, would you?"

I would download a house if I could.

[sera_kath]

The VM solution is my favorite one.
Its really easy and flexible.
If a game doesn't run on my Win10, I just boot the Win7 VM.
The performance hit caused by the virtualization is no problem, if you play older games on a new machine.

[EnterJS]

Me : Why Don't Old Games Work on New Computers

Emulators : Am i a Joke to You

[ylhbdgl]

fun fact: Sometimes you can activate your old games via steam using the CD key, so you dont even have to buy it a second time!

[BaltaBueno]

Why can't I just download more graphics?

[devluz]

Windows: sometimes doesn't run old 32 bit software correctly. Everyone cries
iOS: Deactivates 32 bit support via an update. Everyone cheers.

[TheDeadAlewives]

One thing I've noticed is a lot of REALLY old games (like mid to late 90's) will run fine on Windows 10 without having to do anything, but then once you hit the early 2000's (specifically 2000 to about 2004), that's when you start having issues (at least in my experience). I dunno what's up with that.

[TheBigD.O]

"you wouldn't download a car, right?"
well, I would if I could