Redesigned Steam Home Page Brings Recommendations, Curators, and Customization to the Forefront

September 22, 2014 – Valve today launched the Steam Discovery Update, which introduces new functionality and features designed to optimize the Steam shopping experience as the number of new titles on Steam increases.

In the past nine months, Steam has added over 1,300 new titles and grown to over 100 million active accounts. Designed to meet the demands of this growth, the Steam Discovery Update delivers a smarter Home page, offering recommendations based on past purchases, recent playtime, and recommendations by friends.

Steam Search has also been updated with extremely detailed filters. And a new feature called Curators allows anyone to become a taste maker and build a following.

"We have made great efforts to increase the number of titles we can publish on Steam, which means more choices for customers," said Alden Kroll of Valve. "This update introduces multiple features and functionality to help customers explore Steam’s growing catalog and find the games they are most interested in playing."

Steam is a leading online platform for PC, Mac, and Linux software, games and digital entertainment with over 3,700 titles and 100 million active accounts. It is the product of Valve, creators of game technologies (Source, Steam) and numerous best-selling game franchises (Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Half-Life, Portal, and Team Fortress).

For more information and to see your own personalized store, please visit www.steampowered.com and sign in.

Redesigned Steam Home Page Brings Recommendations, Curators, and Customization to the Forefront

September 22, 2014 – Valve today launched the Steam Discovery Update, which introduces new functionality and features designed to optimize the Steam shopping experience as the number of new titles on Steam increases.

In the past nine months, Steam has added over 1,300 new titles and grown to over 100 million active accounts. Designed to meet the demands of this growth, the Steam Discovery Update delivers a smarter Home page, offering recommendations based on past purchases, recent playtime, and recommendations by friends.

Steam Search has also been updated with extremely detailed filters. And a new feature called Curators allows anyone to become a taste maker and build a following.

"We have made great efforts to increase the number of titles we can publish on Steam, which means more choices for customers," said Alden Kroll of Valve. "This update introduces multiple features and functionality to help customers explore Steam’s growing catalog and find the games they are most interested in playing."

Steam is a leading online platform for PC, Mac, and Linux software, games and digital entertainment with over 3,700 titles and 100 million active accounts. It is the product of Valve, creators of game technologies (Source, Steam) and numerous best-selling game franchises (Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Half-Life, Portal, and Team Fortress).

For more information and to see your own personalized store, please visit www.steampowered.com and sign in.

Dota 2 Championships to be Carried Live on ESPN3,
Exclusive Final Match Preview Show on ESPN2

July 17, 2014 - Valve today announced that coverage of The International Dota 2 Championships will be presented in collaboration with ESPN on its live multi-screen sports network, ESPN3. In addition, an exclusive show previewing the final match will be presented on ESPN2 on Sunday at 8:30 pm Pacific. Live access to ESPN2 is also available on digital platforms via WatchESPN.

This year's International, happening at a sold out KeyArena in Seattle, WA this Friday thru Monday (July 18-22), features a record-breaking prize pool of over $10 mil - the largest ever for a competitive gaming tournament. And for the first time, viewers can watch all the matches, interviews, and analysis happening over the course of the four-day event on ESPN3, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

On Sunday, viewers can tune in to ESPN2 for an exclusive preview of the tournament's final match, featuring highlights from the games, expert analysis, plus interviews with the players and Valve's Gabe Newell.

"From the success of the Compendium to the collaboration with ESPN, this year's International really demonstrates how much competitive gaming has grown to rival traditional sports," said Erik Johnson of Valve. "We believe the teams have also pushed to a new level of play this year and will further demonstrate the incredible advances made across this tournament since it first began three short years ago."

The International was first held in Cologne, Germany during the 2011 Gamescom with 16 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world competing for a grand prize of $1 million.

In 2013 the prize pool was bolstered beyond Valve's contribution by Dota 2 player participation in the Interactive Compendium, driving the total prize pool to over $2.8 million, up from $1.6 million.

This year the Compendium has driven the prize pool over $10 million.

Dota 2 is a free-to-play, online action strategy game created by Valve (Bellevue, WA based makers of multiple game franchises and the leading online distribution platform, Steam).

For more visit http://www.dota2.com

About ESPN3
ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually. It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The network is currently available to more than 92 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks.

Dota 2 Championships to be Carried Live on ESPN3,
Exclusive Final Match Preview Show on ESPN2

July 17, 2014 - Valve today announced that coverage of The International Dota 2 Championships will be presented in collaboration with ESPN on its live multi-screen sports network, ESPN3. In addition, an exclusive show previewing the final match will be presented on ESPN2 on Sunday at 8:30 pm Pacific. Live access to ESPN2 is also available on digital platforms via WatchESPN.

This year's International, happening at a sold out KeyArena in Seattle, WA this Friday thru Monday (July 18-22), features a record-breaking prize pool of over $10 mil - the largest ever for a competitive gaming tournament. And for the first time, viewers can watch all the matches, interviews, and analysis happening over the course of the four-day event on ESPN3, accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app, and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

On Sunday, viewers can tune in to ESPN2 for an exclusive preview of the tournament's final match, featuring highlights from the games, expert analysis, plus interviews with the players and Valve's Gabe Newell.

"From the success of the Compendium to the collaboration with ESPN, this year's International really demonstrates how much competitive gaming has grown to rival traditional sports," said Erik Johnson of Valve. "We believe the teams have also pushed to a new level of play this year and will further demonstrate the incredible advances made across this tournament since it first began three short years ago."

The International was first held in Cologne, Germany during the 2011 Gamescom with 16 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world competing for a grand prize of $1 million.

In 2013 the prize pool was bolstered beyond Valve's contribution by Dota 2 player participation in the Interactive Compendium, driving the total prize pool to over $2.8 million, up from $1.6 million.

This year the Compendium has driven the prize pool over $10 million.

Dota 2 is a free-to-play, online action strategy game created by Valve (Bellevue, WA based makers of multiple game franchises and the leading online distribution platform, Steam).

For more visit http://www.dota2.com

About ESPN3
ESPN3 is ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, a destination that delivers thousands of exclusive sports events annually. It is accessible online at WatchESPN.com, on smartphones and tablets via the WatchESPN app and streamed on televisions through Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. The network is currently available to more than 92 million homes at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider. The network is also available at no cost to approximately 21 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers, smartphones and tablets connected to on-campus educational and on-base military broadband and Wi-Fi networks.

Service Feature Adds Powerful Way To Shop For Games And Software

February 12, 2014 - Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today launched user-defined "Tagging" of products on Steam, a leading platform for games and software with over 75 million accounts worldwide.

Now available in beta, Tagging gives Steam customers the ability to "Tag" any title with genres, themes, attributes, or any other term or phrase. The most popular tags on any given product will be surfaced on said product's Steam page and allow users to easily find other products associated with that same tag.

As with the "Recently Updated" section launched last week, Tagging is designed to provide more ways to discover interesting content on Steam.

Additionally, a related product section was launched today, making it easy to browse by any of the frequently used tags assigned by the community.

"As the catalog of products available on Steam continues to grow, we want to ensure that it is easy for customers to find the particular types of games or software they are looking for," says Al Farnsworth of Valve. "With this new feature, we are providing another powerful tool to help organize and browse products on Steam."

User-defined Tagging is available in beta form immediately and is accessible to all Steam users.

For more information, please visit http://store.steampowered.com/tag

Leading Entertainment Platform Continues Rapid Growth

January 15, 2014 – Valve kicked off its first-ever Steam Dev Days Conference by announcing the continued growth of Steam, a leading platform for PC, Mac, and Linux software. In addition, Valve geographically detailed Steam’s 2013 performance to the more than 1,200 Dev Days attendees.

In the trailing three months the number of active Steam accounts jumped 15%, to 75 million from 65 million (announced October 2013). The growth was realized during a busy holiday release season and Steam’s Pre-Holiday and Holiday Sales.

In addition, members of the Steam publishing team gave attendees a breakdown of 2013’s geographic platform usage. While the figures show a virtual tie between North America (41%) and Europe (40%) for the lion’s share of Steam’s global activity, Russia and Brazil realized the largest year over year growth (2013 vs. 2012) of any individual country, respectively increasing 132% and 75%.

Steam Dev Days is a two-day conference for all developers and publishers working with Steam and/or the upcoming Steam Machines. Steam Dev Days is being be held in Seattle, WA. For more information, please visit http://www.steamdevdays.com/

VALVE REVEALS FIRST GEN STEAM MACHINES

Over One Dozen Designs Announced

January 6, 2014 – Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced over one dozen Steam Machine designs now in production from leading manufacturers and targeted for release in 2014.

The lineup of Steam Machines announced today offers a wide variety of price and performance options made possible by the Steam Machine’s open design, with systems starting as low as $499 and top end systems rivaling today’s bleeding edge gaming PCs.

Every Steam Machine includes an innovative Steam Controller designed for use with a wide variety of game genres, and is powered by the SteamOS, a custom OS built atop Linux.

"The first generation Steam Machines offers something for every gamer, which is a critical part of extending Steam into the living room," said Gabe Newell of Valve. "With over 3,000 games and more than 65 million gamers on Steam, it’s important to offer gamers a variety of Steam Machines that allow them to select what makes the most sense for them."

Announced earlier this year, Steam Machines are new entertainment systems targeted for use in the living room and leveraging Steam, the popular online platform for gaming and software with over 65 million accounts worldwide.

The makers of first generation Steam Machines are:

• Alienware
  
• Alternate
  
• CyberPowerPC
  
• Digital Storm
  
• Falcon NW
  
• GigaByte
  
• iBuyPower
  
• Maingear
  
• Materiel.net
  
• Next Spa
  
• Origin PC
  
• Scan
  
• Webhallen
  
• Zotac

For more information, please visit our CES Press sheet and www.steampowered.com.

Leading Entertainment Platform Expands Reach and Services

October 30, 2013 – Valve today announced 30% growth in active accounts during the trailing 12 months on Steam, a leading platform for PC, Mac, and Linux software.

Now offering over 3,000 games and software titles to over 65 million accounts, 2013 also marked Steam’s 10 year anniversary of providing services to gamers. Expanding upon that history, Steam gamers saw the introduction of several new service features during the year, including Family Sharing, Steam Trading Cards, Early Access, and support for Linux titles.

Looking ahead to 2014, Valve looks to expand Steam’s services and offerings to gamers and developers by holding the Steam Developer Days in Seattle, WA this January and rolling out the recently announced Steam Machines with a variety of hardware partners later in the year.

“The main goal of Steam has always been to increase the quality of the user’s experience by reducing the distance between content creators and their audience,” said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. “As the platform grows, our job is to adapt to the changing needs of both the development and user communities. In the coming year, we plan to make perhaps our most significant collaborations with both communities through the Steam Dev Days and the Steam Machines beta.”

For more information, please visit www.steampowered.com

Coming Soon: Players who share computers can also share their Steam games

September 11, 2013 – Steam Family Sharing, a new service feature that allows close friends and family members to share their libraries of Steam games, is coming to Steam, a leading platform for the delivery and management of PC, Mac, and Linux games and software. The feature will become available next week, in limited beta on Steam.

Steam Family Sharing is designed for close friends and family members to play one another's Steam games while each earning their own Steam achievements and storing their own saves and application data to the Steam cloud. It's all enabled by authorizing a shared computer.

“Our customers have expressed a desire to share their digital games among friends and family members, just as current retail games, books, DVDs, and other physical media can be shared,” explained Anna Sweet of Valve. “Family Sharing was created in direct response to these user requests.”

Once a device is authorized, the lender's library of Steam games becomes available for others on the machine to access, download, and play. Though simultaneous usage of an account’s library is not allowed, the lender may always access and play his games at any time. If he decides to start playing when a friend is borrowing one of his games, the friend will be given a few minutes to either purchase the game or quit playing.

For more information about Steam Family Sharing and the beta program, please visit store.steampowered.com/sharing.

Platform Feature Helps Double Independent Titles On Steam During First Year

August 29, 2013 - Valve, creator of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Dota 2, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the one-year anniversary of Steam Greenlight, the platform feature that enlists the community's help in selecting new titles to be released on Steam.

In addition to enlisting the community's help with the selection process, Greenlight represents an effort to help increase the volume of independent titles being published on Steam.

Since the feature launched on August 30 of last year, the number of independent titles available on Steam has doubled. Meanwhile the volume of new Greenlight submissions has shown no signs of slowing with new titles being submitted every day.

"Ultimately our goal is to have no bottlenecks at all between developers and consumers," said Gabe Newell of Valve. "As we move closer to that, launching Greenlight and evolving our backend toolset has helped us increase our publishing throughput, pushing the number of independent titles released in the last twelve months to equal the number of titles published from all other categories combined. We expect that number to grow dramatically as we continue to iterate upon our developer service features and seek more ways to improve Steam's value to the community."

Launched on August 30, 2012, Steam Greenlight is a feature of Steam, a leading platform for PC, Mac, and Linux games and software with over 50 million active accounts worldwide.

For more information, please visit www.steampowered.com