Five F2P Launch Titles Offering Exclusive Content to Celebrate Launch

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today introduced support for Free to Play (F2P) Games on Steam with the launch of five F2P games.

Available immediately, the launch titles are Spiral Knights, Forsaken Worlds, Champions Online: Free for All, Global Agenda: Free Agent, and Alliance of Valliant Arms (AVA).

Beginning tomorrow (Weds) with Spiral Knights and concluding Sunday with AVA, each of the five launch titles will offer exclusive in-game content to those who try the "F2P game of the day" on Steam. In game transactions in all of the titles will be supported by Steam's micro-transaction backend system that is available to Steamworks partners and currently used in Valve's Team Fortress 2.

"The introduction of Free to Play games is another example of the constant evolution of Steam," said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. "Free to Play games offer new game genres and game experiences for customers, while offering developers and publishers new revenue opportunities and the ability to reach customers in areas of the world where the traditional packaged goods model is less popular than F2P."

Specific details on the F2P games of the day and their exclusive in-game content will be made available in the coming days.

Steam is a leading platform for PC & Mac games and digital entertainment serving over 1,500 games to over 30 million active accounts worldwide. For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com

Capture Your Game, Then Share it on Steam

Valve today announces the introduction of Replays within Team Fortress 2, the multiplayer classic which has received over 200 updates since its initial release. The Replay system enables players to retrace their game lives, make movies of them, and then share them with friends via YouTube™ and the Steam Community. The Replay system is available immediately in the most recent update of the game.

Gameplay rounds are recorded by Replay-enabled servers, allowing players to make and save movies of their recent lives while in-game. Players can then use the Replay Editor to direct custom movies. The editor supports the selection and positioning of cameras from multiple viewpoints, edits and cuts between shots, motion blur, and anti-aliasing, resulting in unique and memorable creations to be shared among friends.

Players can upload their replays to YouTube™ right from within the game. They can then link their YouTube™ and Steam accounts to share them with Friends in the Steam Community, where others can watch replays and post comments.

In celebration of the release of Replays within Team Fortress 2, Valve is hosting the first-ever "Saxxy Awards," a two-week event featuring twenty categories. Players may nominate themselves by submitting replays online by midnight, May 20th GMT. Winners of each category will receive a Saxxy of their very own.

To create and share your replays, simply launch today's updated version of TF2. For Saxxy Awards contest details and rules, and to learn more about this latest update, visit: http://www.teamfortress.com/replayupdate.

Valve's Highly-Anticipated Title Prepares for Launch On PS3™

Valve, creator of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today disclosed details regarding the Steam experience designed for the PlayStation®3, which is set to debut next week with the release of Portal 2.

The first title to support Steam on a console, Portal 2 offers cross-platform matchmaking, gameplay, friends, chat, and achievements, all powered by Steam. Steam on the PS3 also saves co-op game progress and single player saved games to the Steam Cloud, enabling players to pick up where they left off on any PlayStation®3.

The Steam overlay for PS3™ provides access to Steam friends, displaying their in-game or online status and providing a quick pathway to text chats, player profiles, friend requests, and game invites. Steam Achievements are earned in lockstep with PSN Trophies and are also accessible within the Steam overlay.

Steam on the PS3™ provides access to all of these features once the player has linked their PlayStation®Network account with a Steam account, which is done right within the game. A Steam user can login to an existing account, and anyone new to Steam can create an account with the click of a button.

In the spirit of Steam Play, linked players of the PS3™ version of Portal 2 can also access and play their copy of Portal 2 on any PC or Mac by redeeming an in-box access code on their computer. The Steam client verifies the linked customer and then lists Portal 2 among their library of Steam games for PC and Mac.

For more information regarding Steam on the PS3™, visit the Steam Support knowledge base. For more information regarding Portal 2, visit www.thinkwithportals.com.

Briefing Development Partners on New Features for 2011

February 28, 2011 - Valve, creator of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today disclosed its plans for a new "big picture" mode of Steam which will offer controller support and navigation designed for television interaction. Big picture mode will enable gamers to enjoy Steam and their library of Steam games on more screens throughout the house.
"Our partners and customers have asked us to make Steam available in more places. With the introduction of Steam on the Mac, and soon in Portal 2 on the PS3™, we've done just that," said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing for Valve. "With big picture mode, gaming opportunities for Steam partners and customers become possible via PCs and Macs on any TV or computer display in the house."

Details regarding big picture mode are among the highlights Valve plans to share with developers and publishers in its partner meetings during GDC this week in San Francisco, Ca.

Coming off the heels of Steam's biggest year, Valve will also share with partners the data it gathered during the hugely successful launch of Steam Microtransactions late last year within its own multiplayer classic, Team Fortress 2. An in-game economy can now be readily created by partners using the microtransactions system within the Steamworks SDK."We've come to understand what type of content sells well in TF2's in-game store, and the various price points at which players value this content," said Robin Walker, game designer at Valve. "Our players are continually teaching us what works and what doesn't. Much of this feedback can be generalized to other titles on Steam, so we're looking forward to sharing what we've learned with partners at GDC. We're also interested in seeing partners get up and running with their own in-game economies, so they can collect game-specific data to inform their design decisions."

Following the 2010 introduction of Steam for Mac, Valve will also discuss the integration of Steam features in its own titles, including its first day-and-date release for Mac, Portal 2. The upcoming Portal 2 release will also be the first to feature Steam on the PlayStation®3, enabling even broader cross-platform interaction and play between PC, Mac and PS3™.

"Steam continues to define itself as more than a digital distribution service by regularly adding new features for developers and customers," said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. "GDC is a great venue for us to share what we're up to, and what's on the horizon for Steamworks. Plus, it's a great opportunity for us to gather feedback from partners, to help inform our plans."

Steam is a leading platform for the delivery and management of games and digital content with over 30 million accounts worldwide. For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com.

Variety of Savings and Exclusive Content Offered at Participating Outlets Worldwide

February 14, 2011 - Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced that outlets worldwide (retailers and Steam) are now accepting pre-order reservations for Portal 2, the epic sequel named the "Most Anticipated Game of 2011" at the Spike TV Video Game Awards.

Special pre-order offers vary at participating outlets around the world and include a variety of dollars off and/or exclusive in-game content for those who reserve the game for purchase before it is released the week of April 18. These include $5 off the full price, exclusive in-game skins for the coop bots (Atlas and P-body), and more. Check your favorite outlet for details.

"Portal 2 is shaping up to be the most innovative title in Valve's history, and to be a much larger experience than we originally planned," said Doug Lombardi, vice president of marketing at Valve. "As such, we are aggressively promoting the title with more retail promotions than we have put behind any prior release."

The highly anticipated sequel to 2007's Game of the Year, Portal 2 is a hilariously mind-bending adventure that challenges you to use wits over weaponry in a funhouse of diabolical science.

Using a highly experimental portal device, you'll once again face off against a lethally inventive, power-mad A.I. named GLaDOS. And this time you won't be alone. Meet an expanded cast of characters as you think your way through dangerous, never-before-seen areas of Aperture Laboratories.

Break the laws of spatial physics in ways you never thought possible, with a wider variety of portal puzzles and an expansive story that spans a single player and co-operative game mode.

Available for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC and Macintosh computers, Portal 2 is scheduled to ship worldwide the week of April 18, 2011. For more information, please visit www.thinkwithportals.com.

Starting February 10th, watch the new full-length CGI trailer to Total War: Shogun 2, exclusively on Steam! Over three minutes long and available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Russian audio, Total War: Shogun 2's trailer gives a brutal insight into the divided and violent land of 16th century Japan. With thousands of samurai at your command, using diplomacy, war and peace, can you conquer all?

The "Give & Get" Sale starts today and ends Tuesday, November 30. Each day during the sale there will be huge savings on featured games and large game packs that are perfect for gift-giving throughout the holidays. In the spirit of giving, each day of the sale, Valve will be awarding 30 users with the top five games on their wishlists. To become eligible to win, simply load up your own wishlist with ten or more items now.

November 17, 2010 -- Valve today announced the launch of the "Recommended For You" referral services on Steam, a worldwide platform for PC and Mac games with over 30 million accounts worldwide.

The "Recommended For You" services on Steam are designed to help gamers discover new games and DLC based upon their tastes and recent purchases, as well as games recommended by friends.

Recommendations will appear both on the "Recommended For You" pages as well as in your Steam Community News Blotter. In addition, individual game pages will now include Recommendation info, providing gamers with even more information on the 1,200-plus titles available on Steam.

For more information, please visit www.steamgames.com

Most Anticipated Title of 2010 Prepares for PC Launch

Oct 22, 2010- Valve and Activision Publishing, Inc today announced the upcoming holiday blockbuster, Call of Duty®: Black Ops (PC), is now available for pre-purchase via Steam, a leading platform for PC and Mac games with over 30 million accounts around the world.

Those who pre-purchase Call of Duty: Black Ops on Steam will be able to start playing immediately upon release on November 9, 2010, when Activision expects the title will be available worldwide. Developed by Treyarch, Call of Duty: Black Ops utilizes the Steamworks suite of tools. The title is rated "M" (Mature - Blood, Drug, Reference, Intense Violence and Language) by the ESRB.

In addition to leveraging Steamworks' Auto-Updating, Achievements, and more, Call of Duty: Black Ops will support Steamworks Cloud technology. The PC version of the product will be powered with Steamworks for both the digital and tangible versions of the game and, as with all Steamworks titles, offline play will also be supported.

"We are delighted to be delivering the year's most anticipated title with Black Ops to PC gamers around the world," said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. "We've collaborated with the development team to leverage the Steamworks suite of services to deliver the highest level of service to Call of Duty: Black Ops PC customers."

"Steam has been a great partner throughout development of Black Ops," said Mark Lamia, president of Treyarch. "We're working closely together to take full advantage of Steamworks to ensure we deliver the most polished and secure PC experience that our community deserves."

Call of Duty: Black Ops is slated for worldwide release the week of November 9 at retailers and via Steam. For additional Call of Duty updates, visit www.callofduty.com/blackops and also via Twitter @JD_2020.

Steamworks is a complete suite of publishing and development tools -- ranging from product key authentication to social networking services -- offered free of charge to publishers and developers. For more information, please visit www.steampowered.com.

Leading Platform for PC & Mac Games Continues Massive Growth

October 18, 2010 - Valve® today announced the latest growth data for Steam, a leading platform for PC & Mac games and digital entertainment, revealing new account growth of 178%, sales growth of over 200%, over 200 Steamworks games shipped to date, and more.

During the past 12 months the platform had year-over-year new user growth of 178%, pushing the total number of active accounts to over 30 million, with over 1,200 games now offered. Peak simultaneous player numbers were also up to over three million, with over six million unique gamers accessing Steam each day.

In addition to new user growth, Steam sales during the trailing 12 months increased by more than 200%, putting it on track for a sixth straight year of realizing over 100% year-over-year growth in unit sales. To meet this demand, the Steam infrastructure has been increased and now has ability to run at 400Gps, enough bandwidth to ship a digitized version of the Oxford English Dictionary 92.6 times per second.

The period also realized continued adoption of the Steamworks suite of publishing services in tangible and electronic versions of today's popular games. Included in many of the year's biggest releases -- such as Sid Meier's Civilization V, Just Cause 2, and R.U.S.E., with more to come during the holiday season -- Steamworks has now shipped in over 200 since the suite of services was released two years ago. In addition, the Steam Cloud (introduced in Spring 2008) has surpassed the 100 million files saved milestone.

"Steam is on track to record the biggest year in its six year history," said Gabe Newell, president of Valve. "The year has marked major development advances to the platform with the introduction of support for Mac titles, the Steam Wallet and in-game item buying support, and more. We believe the growth in accounts, sales, and player numbers is completely tied to this work and we plan to continue to develop the platform to offer more marketing, sales, and design tools for developers and publishers of games and digital entertainment"

For more information, please visit www.steampowered.com

About Valve
Valve is an entertainment software and technology company founded in 1996 and based in Bellevue, Washington. The company's portfolio of entertainment properties includes Half-Life®, Counter-Strike®, Day of Defeat®, Team Fortress®, PortalTM and Left 4 DeadTM. Valve's catalog of products accounts for over 35 million retail units sold worldwide, and over 80% of PC online action gameplay. In addition, Valve is a developer of leading-edge technologies, such as the Source game engine and Steam, a broadband platform for the delivery and management of digital content. For more information, please visit www.valvesoftware.com.