I believe those games don't run on ARM processors.

Originally posted by bamlin:

Just purchased a new Surface Pro, which has an ARM processor, and now my Steam games will not launch, i.e. Anno 1701, Anno 117, Civilization VII, etc. Is this a common problem now?

Simple thing:

Many games are programmed to run on x86 only, not ARM.
That’s why they don’t run or even start.

Most normal applications also won’t run unless they are ported to ARM or run through emulation.

Your processor is RISC, not CISC, so it works fundamentally differently ,that’s the main reason for the compatibility issues.

Windows on ARM can emulate a lot (and sometimes very slowly), but not all and games are especially problematic because of graphics, DRM, and anti-cheat.

So it’s not enough to just install Steam on an ARM device.

It doesn’t work to just install Steam on a fundamentally different platform and assume everything will run without problems.

Greetings from a technician.