STEAM
by Valve
Steam is a video game digital distribution
service and storefront managed by Valve. It was
launched as a software client in September 2003
to provide game updates automatically for Valve's
games and expanded to distributing third-party
titles in late 2005. Steam offers various features,
like game server matchmaking with Valve Anti-
Cheat measures, social networking, and game
streaming services. Steam client's functions
include game update automation, cloud storage
for game progress, and community features such
as direct messaging, in-game overlay functions
and a virtual collectable marketplace.
The service is the largest digital distribution platform
for PC games, with an estimated 75% of the market
share in 2013 according to IHS Screen Digest. By 2017,
game purchases through Steam totaled about US$4.3
billion, or at least 18% of global PC game sales
according to Steam Spy. By 2021, the service had over
34,000 games with over 132 million monthly active
users.
ORIGIN OF THE
CREATIVE IDEA
In the early 2000s, Valve was looking for a better
way to update its published games, as providing
downloadable patches for multiplayer games
resulted in most of the online user base
disconnecting for several days until players had
installed the patch. They decided to create a
platform that would update games automatically and
implement stronger anti-piracy and anti-cheat
measures. They approached several companies,
including Microsoft, Yahoo!, and RealNetworks, to
build a client with these features, but were declined.
Steam was released out of beta on
September 12, 2003. In November 2004,
Half-Life 2 was the first game to be
offered digitally on Steam, requiring
installation of the Steam client for retail
copies.
By 2014, total annual game sales on Steam
were estimated at $1.5 billion. By 2018,
the service had over 90 million monthly
active users. In 2018, its network delivered
15 billion gigabytes of data, compared to
less than 4 billion in 2014.
Initially, Valve was
required to be the
publisher for these games
since they had sole
access to Steam's
database and engine, but
with the introduction of
the Steamworks software
development kit (SDK) in
Steam's primary service is May 2008, anyone could
to allow its users to integrate Steam into their
purchase games and other game without Valve's
software, adding them to direct involvement.
a virtual library from
which they may be
downloaded and installed
an unlimited number of
times.
In conjunction with developers and publishers, Valve
frequently provides discounted sales on games on a daily
and weekly basis, sometimes oriented around a publisher,
genre, or holiday theme, and sometimes allows games to be
tried for free during the days of these sales. The site
normally offers a large selection of games at a discount
during its annual Summer and Holiday sales, including
gamification of these sales.
Users of Steam's storefront can also purchase games and other software as
gifts for another Steam user. Before May 2017, users could purchase these
gifts to be held in their profile's inventory until they opted to gift them.
As of 2015, Steam sells its products in US and Canadian dollars, euros,
pounds sterling, Brazilian reais, Russian rubles, Indonesian rupiah and
Indian rupees depending on the user's location. In December 2010, the
client began supporting the WebMoney payment system. From April 2016
until December 2017, Steam accepted payments in Bitcoin before dropping
support for it due to high fluctuation in value and costly service fees. The
Steam storefront validates the user's region; the purchase of games may be
restricted to specific regions because of release dates, game classification,
or agreements with publishers.
THANK YOU
