Hello! We’ve just updated the Steam Client Beta with new features and improvements to the Steam Desktop experience. We’re excited to get these features into your hands for testing, so please check it out and let us know what you think. Here's a quick overview of what's new:



Some of the biggest changes in this update aren’t immediately visible; much of the work went into changing how we share code across the Steam Desktop Client, Big Picture mode, and Steam Deck. These changes also mean a quicker implementation and iteration of new features. One example of this is the new Local Network Transfer update, which shipped simultaneously in the Steam Client and Steam Deck.

This update also brings targeted visual and usability improvements across Steam - we've gone through and updated dialogs, menus, fonts, and colors. The main Steam header, Settings, and the game server browser are just a few examples of spots with refreshed UI.

We’ve overhauled the In-Game Overlay completely. Originally created to be a quick way to chat with friends or check on game-related questions or content, we’ve built a brand-new user interface, adding new utility and allowing for more customizability.



The new toolbar gives you access to anything you may need in the middle of a game – friends chat, achievements progress, guides, discussions, a browser, and more. We've picked a couple windows by default, and you can pick and personalize the pieces of content you’d like to see in your overlay - settings are saved between games. This toolbar can be switched between an icon view and a list view in Settings.



The Game Overview is your one-stop shop to see what’s going on with the game since you last played it. For example, it shows what achievements you have in progress, which friends are playing the same game, top guides, news, and more.



The new Notes app lets you jot down... notes about the game that you’re currently playing. It comes with rich text formatting, the ability to have multiple notes per game, and can even be used in offline mode. These notes are saved per game and are synced across to any other PCs you are logged into, and are also accessible outside the in-game overlay, on the game details page.



We've also added the ability to pin windows from the overlay, so that they can appear on top of the game while in-game. Opacity level is adjustable, and only the contents of the window will be pinned - excluding the title bar and other extraneous UI. This new functionality is available for Notes, Guides, Discussions, and the web browser (yes, you can watch movies while you play games if you really want to).



Steam Client notifications are now richer and more useful. The green button only lights up when there's truly something new for you. The tray view is limited to new notifications, and there's a "View all" page with a historical view.



The screenshot manager has been completely refreshed - it's responsive, you can choose from large or small thumbnails, view recent screenshots rather than by game, and you can manage online screenshots as well as local screenshots.



The technical work in this update also makes it possible to enable hardware acceleration for the Mac & Linux versions of Steam, bringing them up to par with Windows. You should see snappier animations, scrolling and more responsive UI. Linux users can try the new client out today! For Mac users, you will have to wait a couple weeks as we are hard at work getting the client ready for public testing.

These features are all now available in the Steam Client Beta, which you can opt into by following these instructions. Work on these features is ongoing, and we would love to hear what you think. Any feedback and bug reports are appreciated – please share them in the forums.

General

• Added "End of Life" alert for Windows 7/8/8.1. Steam Client support for these operating systems will end on Jan 1st, 2024 at 10am. See here for additional details.
  
• Fixed crash when clicking links in Compatibility Mode alert dialogs
  
• Reduced CPU usage of the Big Picture Mode window

macOS

• Added "End of Life" alert for macOS 10.11 ("El Capitan") and 10.12 ("Sierra"). Steam Client support for these operating systems will end on September 1st, 2023 at 10am. See here for additional details.
  
• Fixed Steam Overlay crash in some games using Metal graphics API

This client was re-released on May 30th to address the following issue:

• Fixed an issue in the library causing the game released section to accidentally display for users who added the Street Fighter 6 demo to their account. This section of the library should only display when a game that you have pre-purchased is ready for pre-load or has released and is now ready to play.

Steam Puzzle Fest is live now, celebrating puzzle games of all kinds for an entire week! From now through May 1st at 10am PDT, come find discounts, demos, and more on games (both current and upcoming) built around solving puzzles.

Bring your best problem-solving skills to break the code, find the missing piece, and align the elements as you explore this showcase of games focused on the spirit of solving puzzles. Head HERE to join in the action!

For the first time ever, Steam is bringing the seasonal sale fun to SPRING! The Steam Spring Sale is on now: From March 16th - March 23rd at 10am Pacific, enjoy discounts on games of all kinds!

And... also for the first time ever, Steam Deck is on sale! All three versions are 10% off throughout the duration of the Spring Sale in regions where Steam Deck is shipping. It's all part of our celebration of one whole year of Steam Deck, which you can read more about (and purchase) HERE.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675200/view/3675538825747583355

While you explore the sale, take a look in your favorite store category page to get a free sticker each day. If you are looking for a good place to start, check out the ever-popular Open World page.

And finally, for those of you with a Steam Deck already, check out the Points Shop for some fun ways to customize your Deck!

Happy (almost) Spring!

Note: This client update has been re-released to fix the following:

• Fixed issue that prevents users from removing accounts from the account selection UI.
  
• Fixed issue that causes the account selection UI to appear when refreshing sign in information.
  
• Changed the system tray to show the launch option dialog for applications with multiple launch options (unless the user has checked the “don’t ask me again” checkbox.)
  
• Fixed game beta success/failure and dropdown not updating when opting into a password-protected beta branch
  
• Fixed Big Picture Mode not opening when Steam is set to launch on startup when configured as the default mode
  
• Fixed a regression in ISteamHTTP talking to servers with ALPN TLS extensions but no HTTP/2 support
  
• Fixed an issue with non-Steam game configs not loading properly
  
• Fixed an issue where switching games in the configurator could show data for the previous game after making an edit

Local Network Game Transfers

• Added new feature that allows Steam users to copy existing Steam game installation and update files from one PC to another over a local area network, without having to download and install from a Steam content server on the internet. This reduces internet traffic and can speed up installs or updates.
  
• Steam users have control over who files can be sent to: self only, friends only, or everyone. The default setting is self only.
  
• More info about this new feature can be found here: https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/46BD-6BA8-B012-CE43

General

• Added UI that temporarily replaces the "What's New" section of the Library when pre-purchased games are available to pre-load or install and play
  
• Added UI at startup for account selection
  
• Added a "sign out" option to the main menu that removes credentials for the signed in account from the machine
  
• Fixed a crash when the OS is notifying Steam that it should shutdown
  
• Improved performance of games when using Steam Workshop APIs
  
• Refreshed the profile games page with a new style and improved performance
  
• Fixed crash for some uses of %command% in shortcut launch options
  
• Fixed quotes surrounding shortcut exe and paths
  
• Fixed "Steam Library Folder" dialog showing in Downloads settings
  
• Fixed soundtrack cover art, artist, and track information not appearing in Additional Content section of app details
  
• Fixed some actions that should have opened external applications, such as a URL in your default browser, that were instead doing nothing
  
• Fixed a crash loading the standalone controller configurator
  
• Fixed another issue blocking download of precached shaders

Big Picture Mode

• Improved performance in Big Picture Mode when using Nvidia GPUs
  
• Fixed issue where the old BPM on-screen keyboard would appear at the same time as the new BPM virtual keyboard
  
• Fixed issue where user could not re-enter a context submenu after backing out of it
  
• Fixed issue where incoming chat messages would not be delivered properly while in-game
  
• Reduced flashing in background when scrolling through games on home screen
  
• Game invites in the Quick Access Menu will now default to opening a context menu to accept the invite rather than navigating to the chat tab and having to hit "Accept" there.
  
• Added ability to retrieve Steam Runtime System Information for Linux devices
  
• Improved UI responsiveness when reconnecting to Steam
  
• Fixed the appearance of jumbled UI that could happen for a second or two when starting Steam
  
• Removed unclickable area at bottom of the library
  
• Fixed the ability to rename collections, which was instead being interpreted as navigating the app grid
  
• Added "Turn Off Steam Link" to the Big Picture power menu
  
• Fixed crash when in a voice chat
  
• Fixed crash when authorizing a microtransaction purchase in the overlay
  
• Fixed the Play button stealing focus when a game is launching
  
• Fixed "Find games to play with friends" not working in Big Picture Mode
  
• Constrain the width of settings, chat, and other non-grid based views when on larger monitors
  
• Fixed the screen remaining blurred after a "What's New" post was dismissed
  
• Fixed an issue where Steam was not focused properly after exiting a game
  
• Fixed misalignment of loading throbber after logging in.
  
• Fixed universal search not applying mature content filtering preferences

Steam Input

• Added support for the Sony DualSense Edge controller including support for remapping of the rear buttons.
  
• Added a loading throbber when waiting on Steam Cloud to update
  
• Improved the latency of querying the workshop in the Configuration Browser and fix issues with configurations popping-in or opening the wrong tab because results weren't fully received
  
• Added a loading throbber that shows while the Configuration Browser workshop query is running
  
• Fixed PS5 edge settings leaking into PS5 controller
  
• Fixed Steam Link app mobile touch gyro not working
  
• Fixed crash exiting deadzone visualization
  
• Fixed the physical input visualization only looking at the first connected controller
  
• Fixed rumble for Nintendo Joy-Con controllers
  
• Added support for the Razer Wolverine V2 controllers
  
• Added the ability to reset the device input mapping in new Big Picture
  
• Added the ability to install and uninstall the Windows Xbox Enhanced Features driver to the new Big Picture controller settings
  
• Updated the Windows Xbox Enhanced Features driver with the following changes:
  
  • Added support for Xbox Series X controllers connected via the Xbox Wireless Adapter
    
  • Fixed delay detecting hotplugged USB controllers, occasionally causing duplicate controllers in Steam
    
  • Fixed interference with the Victrix Control Hub after the driver has been uninstalled
• Fixed Logitech F310 controller input on macOS and Linux
  
• Added mapping for DualSense Edge Wireless Controller on Linux (note that advanced feature support require Steam to be able to access the /dev/hidraw* devices)
  
• Fixed unintended inversion of Gyroscope Roll Axis on Steam Deck
  
• Added some optimization around DualSense adaptive trigger effects interaction with the Bluetooth stack

Steam Deck

• Move advanced HDR options to Developer Settings
  
• Streamable games are now included in the "Ready to play" game filter, though the default action is still to install them locally.
  
• Fixed a bug preventing some Demo apps that store files under the full-game App ID from uploading to Steam Cloud from Steam Deck devices
  
• Stop prompting users to register for Steam Deck rewards if they have chosen the "Ignore Forever" option
  
• Fixed some transparency issues with the background in the in-game overlay.

The February 2023 edition of Steam Next Fest is in the books, and it was another fun week of free demos and livestreams. We host Steam Next Fest three times a year, and each one is an opportunity for players to explore hundreds of demos of games before they launch on Steam.

Cool numbers from February 2023 Steam Next Fest:

• 8.7 million unique visitors, the highest number yet for this event.
  
• 675 playable demos, which is right in line with most Next Fests.

With so many demos to explore during just a week’s time, we thought we’d show the ones that a good number of Steam users seemed to enjoy (across all genres!) as a way to share some you may have missed. So we broke out a couple of smaller lists from the games that participated with demos in Steam Next Fest: February 2023 edition.

Check Out The List

On this list, we've included the two following views:

• The overall most wish-listed games from the run of the fest (ranked by total number of wish-list adds)
  
• Overall most-played demos during the event (ranked by the total number of demo activations)

While not all demos in these lists are still available, you can still check out their store pages to learn more about them, and to add to your wishlist to be notified when they officially ship.

Join us in June for the next Steam Next Fest! You can visit https://store.steampowered.com/sale/nextfest today and set a reminder to be notified when June Next Fest kicks off.

You can always find amazing free demos available all year long on the Steam Demo Hub.