You may have heard your friends getting excited about the upcoming Winter Steam sale, saving their Steam gift cards to snag a hot deal on their favorite games. But what is Steam, and why is it popular? Steam is Valve’s prized possession, a platform that has existed since 2003. It digitalized video games for computers, replacing the need to buy physically boxed PC games.
Most apps you download and install on yourAndroid gaming phonecome from the Google Play Store. Steam works similarly but for PC games. You can download a fair share of games over Steam, including free-to-play titles, early access titles, indie games, and ports of popular games from major publishers. Learning a new platform can be daunting. To lend a hand, here’s a rundown of Valve’s platform for gamers, an explanation of what Steam is, and a description of its accompanying features.
A brief history of Valve’s popular PC gaming platform
Valve Corporation (previously Valve Software) was founded by two ex-Microsoft employees in 1996. The small software company announced Steam in 2002 at the Game Developers Conference. It launched as Valve’s digital distribution and storefront for Valve games. Later, the services expanded to host third-party titles. It wasn’t until 2013 that Steam becamethe most prominent digital distribution platform for PC games.
Steam has seen significant growth in features since its initial launch. Before, it was only an automated software client that updated and patched various Valve titles. Now, it hosts a plethora of PC games and is used as a platform for social networking and content creation. Steam expanded outside of Windows-based PCs. It has a dedicated client for Mac and Linux and a mobile app for Android and iOS.
Connecting to Steam
Installing Steam on ChromeOS
Downloading andinstalling Steam on a Chromebookmay take a few extra steps. The experience of playing Steam games on a Chromebook may vary, but there’s plenty of potential to discover. Running games on ChromeOS is still in the early development phase, and it requires owning a compatiblemodel suitable for gaming.
Setting up Steam on mobile and desktop
Granting your Steam account seamless access requires some consideration. For example, you’re able to connect the Steam mobile app to sign in to the Steam app on your computer. To do this, you’ll activate the Steam Guard mobile authenticator. Steam Guard prevents different devices and IP addresses from logging in to your account. To log in to that Steam account, users must bypass an additional layer of security. It’s strongly recommended to set this up before you use Steam.
Sometimes, you may want to purchase a Steam game without going through multiple steps between apps and computers. To overcome this barrier, set up 2FA (two-factor authentication) access via a QR scan code using the Steam mobile app. Then, sign in to your account and complete the QR code prompt on your mobile device.
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What you can find on Steam
You can buy games on Steam, and you can read and write reviews for every gaming title that has a landing page. Steam is more than a digital distribution platform and a storefront. It encompasses a community where you can mingle and chat about your favorite trending games.
These communities can grow so large that they become a famous corner for sharing fan-made creations. For every game on Steam, you’ll find tabs (on their respective pages) where you may acquire game-changing mods in the Steam Workshop and read informative guides while previewing original visual artwork and broadcasts created by the Steam community. To further demonstrate your support, you can spend Steam Points to hand out an award to your favorite creations. Otherwise, you can react with a thumbs up or thumbs down (similar to how you would on social media).
Building your Steam library
Like any digital distribution platform and storefront (for example, Epic Games), you can purchase third-party titles on the Steam Store. Steam-bought games are stored in your library, and you can transfer these libraries across multiple computers. Still, only one person can access the Steam library simultaneously.
This rule also applies to Family Library Sharing. Family Library Sharing (if activated) authorizes up to five other users and ten devices in a 90-day period. However, only one user can play a game in the Steam library at a time. Valve implemented these restrictions to prevent users from abusing theTerms of Serviceset by the company.
Buying games on Steam
Given that a title has a landing page, you can purchase games directly on the Steam Store. Valve offersSteam codes and keysto redeem within the app. Some third-party services provide a redeemable key to download a game off Steam. Other vendors (like Walmart and Best Buy) sell Steam gift cards (or Wallet codes from Amazon).
Otherwise, you can pay directly for Steam games using the funds in your Steam Wallet, PayPal, or credit card. Some third-party subscription services (required for games), such as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, may opt to auto-renew monthly fees via Steam. So, always check your purchase history. In cases where accidental purchases happen, Valve has a laxreturn policy for Steam games.
Gifting Steam games
One of the more pleasing features of Steam is its capability to gift games. When you purchase a game over Steam, you can buy it for yourself or send it as a gift to one of your registered friends. Most online digital storefronts, like Sony’s PlayStation Store and Nintendo’s eShop, cannot gift games directly. The next best option is sending digital or physical gift cards to your friends.
There are limitations to sending digital gift cards. Most storefronts only allow users to redeem region-specific gift cards that match the account’s registered region. That’s the advantage of gifting games directly. While on Steam, you can send gifts you purchased in your country’s store and send them to your friends globally.
Valve has a 10% price difference policy. Users who buy a Steam game in another country can only gift it to others within a 10% difference in pricing (after currency conversion). This prevents buying Steam games at exclusive discounts that one country may have, while the other one doesn’t.
Some Steam gifts have regional restrictions, indicated under a notice in red, before completing the purchase.
Valve-supported devices and Steam hardware
When Steam launched in 2003, it was onlyconsidered a digital distribution platformand storefront for PC games. By the time Valve reaped success with its platform, it began launching its line of first-party hardware.
The first was SteamOS (a Linux-based operating system), which was released with Valve’s first party, Steam Controller. Later, the service expanded to local gamestreaming with Steam Link(a device that streams your Steam gaming library from a computer onto your TV). Eventually, the Steam Link retired as a piece of hardware to become a software application that allows Steam games to be played on smart TVs and mobile devices.
Valve made rounds in 2022 with its handheld created to play Steam games. The Steam Deck is still a work in progress. Not all Steam games have received the stamp of approval (by Valve) to work optimally on the Deck, and the hardware has limitations about how well some graphically intensive, FPS-driven games can run. Nonetheless, the Steam Deck goes neck-to-neck as apreferred mobile gaming platformto other beastly PC handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally and the Lenovo Legion GO.
Valve’s legacy continues to live on
As more PC gaming handhelds support Steam,mobile gaming may go in a new direction. We now have more ways to play AAA games throughcloud streamingor dedicated hardware that supports a Windows or Linux-based operating system. Subsequently, large gaming giants, like Nintendo, have shown there’s a demand for portability thanks to the Nintendo Switch.
