Next time you see that installer window pop up, don't ignore it with suspicion—welcome it. It’s just the plumbing making sure your game or software actually runs.

Why? Starting with Visual Studio 2015, Microsoft changed the underlying runtime version number to 14.0 . This version (14.x) has been across all updates from 2015 all the way to 2022. In simple English: An app built in 2015 will happily use the runtime from the 2022 Redistributable.

Demystifying the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015: What It Is and Why You Need It