They shouldn't. There's nothing inherent about the data in the save game files that should matter with a new Ren'Py version, but it is a beta test version. Caveat Emptor.Are the savegames ok? Because you updated Ren'py. I have read somewhere here that saves will break.
For what it's worth, I've updated Ren'Py with almost every release, and it was only the one time I made changes to the way points are calculated that it broke things.