Starting 19 September, the company moved graphics support for 11th through 14th Generation Core chips, plus a long list of Atom, Pentium and Celeron silicon, to what it's calling a "legacy software support model."

For those not in the know, that’s corporate code for “don’t expect much.” The new approach drops monthly updates and Day 0 game support in favour of quarterly driver releases focused only on critical fixes and security holes. Basically, if your GPU isn’t on fire, don’t hold your breath for a patch.

The cull affects anything from Tiger Lake to the recent Raptor Lake refreshes, and even Intel’s short-lived DG1 discrete GPU is being shoved out to pasture. That means no more optimisations for new titles or new features, just the bare minimum to keep regulators happy.

You’ll still get drivers, but only four times a year unless there’s a crisis. Newer chips will carry on getting monthly updates and Day 0 support for major game releases, but the message for owners is that Chipzilla wants you to upgrade.

As Intel tries to spin up hype for future Arc graphics and CPU generations, this retreat signals yet another example of the company abandoning post-launch driver promises the moment marketing moves on.