In a move that many saw coming, particularly after Gabe Newell criticised the Windows 8 App Store for trying to shut out game and software developers, Valve will now retail software on its Steam platform in addition to games. The new applications will range in category from creativity to productivity and will take advantage of popular Steamworks features such as easy installation, automatic updating and the ability to save your work in Steam Cloud, where it can be accessed from any computer using your login credentials.
Many have known about Steam’s software market entry since it “accidentally” let slip an update for it’s mobile app for Android and iOS that briefly showcased several new software genres. The update was quickly pulled but not before several readers captured screenshots. New categories included Accounting, Design& Illustration, Education, Photo Editing, Software Training, Video Production and Web Publishing, just to name a few.
The official announcement from Valve didn’t specify pricing or what types of software titles it would bring to Steam – so you’ll have to wait till the feature launches on September the 5th for more information.
Valve’s official announcement is below:
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 announced the first set of Software titles are heading to Steam, marking a major expansion to the platform most commonly known as a leading destination for PC and Mac games.
The Software titles coming to Steam range from creativity to productivity. Many of the launch titles will take advantage of popular Steamworks features, such as easy installation, automatic updating, and the ability to save your work to your personal Steam Cloud space so your files may travel with you.
More Software titles will be added in an ongoing fashion following the September 5th launch, and developers will be welcome to submit Software titles via Steam Greenlight.
“The 40 million gamers frequenting Steam are interested in more than playing games,” said Mark Richardson at Valve. “They have told us they would like to have more of their software on Steam, so this expansion is in response to those customer requests.”
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