Steam Gaming Pc

Valve released a freely available application programming interface (API) called Steamworks in 2008, which developers can use to integrate Steam's functions into their products, including in-game achievements, microtransactions, and user-created content support. Initially developed for Microsoft Windows operating systems, Steam was released for macOS in 2010 and Linux in 2012. Mobile apps to access online Steam features were first released for iOS and Android in 2012. The platform also offers other digital content and Valve gaming hardware, including productivity software, game soundtracks, videos and VR headset Valve Index.

The service is the largest digital distribution platform for PC gaming, estimated around 75% of the market share in 2013 according to IHS Screen Digest.[2] By 2017, users purchasing games through Steam totaled approximately US$4.3 billion, representing at least 18% of global PC game sales according to Steam Spy.[3] By 2021, the service had over 34,000 games with over 132 million monthly active users.[4] The success of Steam has led to the development of the Steam Machine line of gaming PCs in 2015, which includes the SteamOS operating system and Steam Controller, Steam Link devices for local game streaming, and the handheld Steam Deck tailored for running Steam games in 2022.

steam gaming pc

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In accordance with its acceptable use policy, Valve retains the right to block customers' access to their games and Steam services when Valve's Anti-Cheat (VAC) software determines that the user is cheating in multiplayer games, selling accounts to others, or trading games to exploit regional price differences.[67] Blocking such users initially removed access to his or her other games, leading to some users with high-value accounts losing access because of minor infractions.[68] Valve later changed its policy to be similar to that of Electronic Arts' Origin platform, in which blocked users can still access their games but are heavily restricted, limited to playing in offline mode and unable to participate in Steam Community features.[69] Customers also lose access to their games and Steam account if they refuse to accept changes to Steam's end user license agreements; this last occurred in August 2012.[70] In April 2015, Valve began allowing developers to set bans on players for their games, but enacted and enforced at the Steam level, which allowed them to police their own gaming communities in a customizable manner.[71]

In October 2012, Steam introduced non-gaming applications, which are sold through the service in the same manner as games.[104] Creativity and productivity applications can access the core functions of the Steamworks API, allowing them to use Steam's simplified installation and updating process, and incorporate features including cloud saving and Steam Workshop.[105] Steam also allows game soundtracks to be purchased to be played via Steam Music or integrated with the user's other media players.[106] Valve adjusted its approach to soundtracks in 2020, no longer requiring them to be offered as DLC, meaning that users can buy soundtracks to games they do not own, and publishers can offer soundtracks to games not on Steam.[107]

Valve have also added the ability for publishers to rent and sell digital movies via the service, with initially most being video game documentaries.[108] Following Warner Bros. Entertainment offering the Mad Max films alongside the September 2015 release of the game based on the series,[109] Lionsgate entered into agreement with Valve to rent over one hundred feature films from its catalog through Steam starting in April 2016, with more films following later.[110] In March 2017, Crunchyroll started offering various anime for purchase or rent through Steam.[111] However, by February 2019, Valve shuttered video from its storefront save for videos directly related to gaming content.[112] While available, users could also purchase Steam Machine related hardware.[113]

ReVuln, a commercial vulnerability research firm, published a paper in October 2012 that said the Steam browser protocol was posing a security risk by enabling malicious exploits through a simple user click on a maliciously crafted steam:// URL in a browser.[133][134][135] This was the second serious vulnerability of gaming-related software following a recent problem with Ubisoft's own game distribution platform Uplay.[136] German IT platform Heise online recommended strict separation of gaming and sensitive data, for example using a PC dedicated to gaming, gaming from a second Windows installation, or using a computer account with limited rights dedicated to gaming.[135]

Valve announced Steam Greenlight to streamline game addition to the service in July 2012 and released the following month.[236] Through Greenlight, Steam users would choose which games were added to the service. Developers were able to submit information about their games, as well as early builds or beta versions, for consideration by users. Users would pledge support for these games, and Valve would help to make top-pledged games available on the Steam service.[237] In response to complaints during its first week that finding games to support was made difficult by a flood of inappropriate or false submissions,[238] Valve required developers to pay US$100 to list a game on the service to reduce illegitimate submissions. Those fees were donated to the charity Child's Play.[239] This fee was met with some concern from smaller developers, who often are already working in a deficit and may not have the money to cover such fees.[240] A later modification allowed developers to put conceptual ideas on the Greenlight service to garner interest in potential projects free-of-charge; votes from such projects are visible only to the developer.[241] Valve also allowed non-gaming software to be voted onto the service through Greenlight.[242]

On March 8, 2010, Valve announced a client for Mac OS X.[307] The announcement was preceded by a change in the Steam beta client to support the cross-platform WebKit web browser rendering engine instead of the Trident engine of Internet Explorer.[310][311][312] Before this announcement, Valve teased the release by e-mailing several images to Mac community and gaming websites; the images featured characters from Valve games with Apple logos and parodies of vintage Macintosh advertisements.[313][314] Valve developed a full video homage to Apple's 1984 Macintosh commercial to announce the availability of Half-Life 2 and its episodes on the service; some concept images for the video had previously been used to tease the Mac Steam client.[315]

The team developing the Linux client had been working for a year before the announcement to validate that such a port would be possible.[321] As of the official announcement, a near-feature-complete Steam client for Linux had been developed and successfully run on Ubuntu.[321] Internal beta testing of the Linux client started in October 2012; external beta testing occurred in early November the same year.[322][323] Open beta clients for Linux were made available in late December 2012,[324] and the client was officially released in mid-February 2013.[325] At the time of announcement, Valve's Linux division assured that its first game on the OS, Left 4 Dead 2, would run at an acceptable frame rate and with a degree of connectivity with the Windows and Mac OS X versions. From there, it began working on porting other games to Ubuntu and expanding to other Linux distributions.[318][326][327] Linux games are also eligible for SteamPlay availability.[328] Versions of Steam working under Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux were released by October 2013.[329] The number of Linux-compatible games on Steam increased from over 500 in June 2014,[330] to over 1,000 by March 2015[331] and to over 2,000 in March 2016.[332] In February 2019, Steam for Linux had 5,800 native games compared to over 30,000 including aforementioned and was described as having "the power to keep Linux [gaming] alive" by Engadget.[333]

Prior to 2013, industry analysts believed that Valve was developing hardware and tuning features of Steam with apparent use on its own hardware. These computers were pre-emptively dubbed as "Steam Boxes" by the gaming community and expected to be a dedicated machine focused upon Steam functionality and maintaining the core functionality of a traditional video game console.[357] In September 2013, Valve unveiled SteamOS, a custom Linux-based operating system they had developed specifically aimed for running Steam and games, and the final concept of the Steam Machine hardware.[358] Unlike other consoles, the Steam Machine does not have set hardware; its technology is implemented at the discretion of the manufacturer and is fully customizable, much like a personal computer.[359] In 2018 the Steam Machines were removed from the storefront due to low sales and small user traffic.[360]

Valve released the Steam Deck, a handheld gaming computer running an updated version of SteamOS, with initial shipments starting on February 25, 2022.[365] The Deck is designed for the play of Steam games, but can be placed into a separate dock, purchased separately, that allows the Deck to output to an external display and use the dock's power, networking, and connected USB accessories.[366] The Deck was released on February 25, 2022.[367][368] Among updates to Steam and SteamOS included better Proton layer support for Windows-based games, improved user interface features in the Steam client for the Steam Deck display, and adding Dynamic Cloud Saves to Steam to allow synchronizing saved games while a game is being played.[369] Valve began marking all games on the service through a Steam Deck Validated program to indicate how compatible they were with the Steam Deck software.[370]

Valve included beta support for Steam Cloud Play in May 2020 for developers to allow users to play games in their library which developers and publishers have opted to allow in a cloud gaming service. At launch, Steam Cloud Play only worked through Nvidia's GeForce Now service and would link up to other cloud services in the future though whether Valve would run its own cloud gaming service was unclear.[373] 2ff7e9595c