Steam is a digital distribution platform developed by Valve Corporation, which offers digital rights management (DRM), multiplayer gaming, video streaming and social networking services. Steam provides users with automatic installation and game updates, and community features like friend and group lists, cloud storage, and in-game voice and chat functions. The software provides a free application programming interface (API) called Steamworks, which can be used by developers to integrate many of Steam's functions into their products, including networking, matchmaking, in-game achievements, micro transactions, and support for user-generated content. via Steam Workshop. Although originally developed for use on Microsoft Windows operating systems, versions for Mac OS X and Linux were later released. Mobile apps with functions connected to the mainstream software were then released for iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices in the 2010s.
Steam platform is the largest digital distribution platform for PC games, estimated in 2013 to have 75% of the market space. By 2017, users who purchase titles via Steam amount to about $ 4.3 billion, representing at least 18% of global PC game sales. As early as 2018, the service has over 150 million registered accounts with a peak of 18.5 million concurrent online users. The success of the Steam platform has led to the development of the Steam Machine microconsoles range, as well as the SteamOS operating system.
Video Steam (software)
Histori
Before applying Steam, Valve Corporation is having trouble updating its online games, such as Counter-Strike ; providing patches will result in most online user base disconnecting for several days. Valve decided to create a platform that will automatically update games and implement stronger anti-piracy and anti-cheat actions. Through a user poll at the time of its announcement in 2002, Valve also acknowledged that at least 75% of their users have access to high-speed internet connections, which will only grow with the planned Internet expansion in subsequent years, and recognize that they can deliver content games faster to players than through retail channels. Valve approached several companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo !, and RealNetworks to build clients with these features, but was rejected.
Steam Development started in 2002, with the title working for the platform being "Grid" and "Gazelle". It was announced publicly at the Game Developers Conference event on March 22, 2002, and was released as a beta on the same day. To demonstrate the ease of integrating Steam with games, Relic Entertainment created a special version of Impossible Beings . Valve partnered with several companies, including AT & amp; T, Acer, and GameSpy. The first mod released on the system is Day of Defeat .
The client was officially released from beta on September 11, 2003, which should be used with Counter-Strike version 1.6. At that time, Steam's main function was to simplify the common patch process in online computer games. Steam is an optional component for all other games. Between 80,000-300,000 players test the system while in beta period. The system and website faltered under the pressure of thousands of users while trying to play the latest version of Counter-Strike . In 2004, the World Opponent Network was closed and replaced by Steam. An online gaming feature that requires the World Opponent Network to stop working unless they are converted into Steam.
Around that time, Valve began negotiating contracts with several independent publishers and developers to release their products, including Rag Doll Kung Fu
Beginning with Rag Doll Kung Fu in October 2005, third-party games were available for purchase and download on Steam, and Valve announced that Steam has become profitable because of some very successful Valve games. Although digital distribution has not been able to match the retail volume, the profit margin for Valve and developers is much larger in Steam. Major developers, including id Software, Eidos Interactive, and Capcom, began distributing their games on Steam in 2007. In May of that year, 13 million accounts were created on the service, and 150 games were sold on the platform. In 2014, total annual sales in Steam is estimated at $ 1.5 billion. Since 2007, Valve continues to extend Steam's functions and services to consumers and developers.
Maps Steam (software)
Client functionality
Software delivery and maintenance
Steam's main service is to allow users to download games and other software they have in their virtual software library to their local computer as game cache files (GCFs). Initially, Valve needed to be the publisher for these titles because they had single access to Steam databases and engines, but with the introduction of the Steamworks (SDK) software development kit in May 2008, anyone could potentially be a publisher for Steam, outside of Valve's involvement to curate the title in the service.
Prior to 2009, most games released on Steam had traditional anti-piracy measures, including product assignment and distribution of key and support for digital rights management software such as SecuROM or non-malicious rootkits. By updating to the Steamworks SDK in March 2009, Valve added a "Custom Executable Generation" (CEG) approach to the Steamworks SDK that eliminates the need for these other steps. CEG technology makes copies of unique and encrypted game executable files for certain users that allow them to install them multiple times and on multiple devices, and make backup copies of their software. Once the software is downloaded and installed, the user must then authenticate via Steam to delete executable files to play the game. Usually this is done when connected to the Internet after validating user credentials, but once they get into Steam once, the user can instruct Steam to launch in a special offline mode to be able to play their game without a network connection. Developers are not limited to Steam's CEG and may include other forms of DRM and other authentication services other than Steam; for example, some titles from Ubisoft publishers require the use of their UPlay game service, and before it is turned off in 2014, some other titles require Games for Windows - Live, although many of these titles have switched to using the CEG Steamworks approach.
In September 2008, Valve added support for Steam Cloud, a service that can automatically store saved games and related custom files on the Valve server; users can access this data from any machine running Steam client. The game must use the proper features of Steamworks for Steam Cloud to work. Users can disable this feature on a per-game basis and per account. As of May 2012, the service adds the ability for users to manage their game library from remote clients, including computers and mobile devices; users can order Steam to download and install games they have through this service if their Steam clients are currently up and running. Some games sold through retail channels can be redeemed as titles for user libraries in Steam by entering product code in the software. For games that incorporate Steamworks, users can purchase redeem code from other vendors and redeem in Steam clients to add titles to their library. Steam also offers a framework for selling and distributing downloadable content (DLC) for games.
In September 2013, Steam introduced the ability to share most games with family members and close friends by authorizing machines to access one's library. The official player can install the game locally and play it separately from the ownership account. Users can access their saved games and achievements, as long as the main owner does not play. When a major player starts a game when a shared account uses it, shared account users are allowed a few minutes to save their progress and close a game or buy a game for their own account. In Family View, introduced in January 2014, parents can adjust settings for their child-bound accounts, restrict functionality and accessibility to Steam clients and purchased titles.
In accordance with Acceptable Use Policy, Valve reserves the right to block and unblock customer access to their games and Steam services when Valve's Anti-Cheat (VAC) software determines that users cheated in multiplayer games, selling accounts to others or trade games to exploit regional price differences. Blocking those users initially removes access to their other games, causing multiple users with high-value accounts to lose access for minor violations of the AUP. Valve later changed its policy to be similar to Electronic Arts' Origin platform, where blocked users can still access their games but are severely restricted, limited to play in offline mode and unable to participate in the Steam Community feature. Subscribers also lose access to their games and Steam accounts if they refuse to accept changes to Steam's end-user license agreement; this occurred in August 2012. In April 2015, Valve began allowing developers to set players a ban on their game but was enforced and enforced at the Steam level, allowing them to oversee their own game community in a customizable manner.
Storefront features
Steam clients include a digital storefront called the Steam Store where users can purchase computer games. After the game is purchased, the software license is permanently attached to the user's Steam account, enabling him to download the software on compatible devices. Game licenses may be granted to other accounts under certain conditions. Content is sent from an international network server using proprietary file transfer protocol. Steam sells its products in US dollars and Canada, euro, pound sterling, Brazilian reais, Russian rubles, Indonesian Rupiah, and Indian rupees depending on the user's location. Starting December 2010, clients support WebMoney's payment system, which is popular in many European countries, the Middle East, and Asia. Starting April 2016, Steam began receiving payments in Bitcoin, judged by user geolocation, with transactions handled by BitPay. However, Valve dropped the ability to use Bitcoin in December 2017, citing high value fluctuations and costly service charges that made its use "untenable". Steam Storefronts validate user territories; title purchases may be limited to a particular region due to release date, game classification, or agreement with the publisher. Since 2010, the Steam Translation Server project offers Steam users to help translation of Steam clients, storefronts and libraries selected from Steam games for twenty-seven languages. Steam also allows users to purchase downloadable content for games, and for certain game titles such as Team Fortress 2 , the ability to purchase in-game inventory items. In February 2015, Steam began to open similar options for the purchase of in-game items for third-party games.
Steam store users can also purchase games and other software as gifts to give to other Steam users. Prior to May 2017, users can purchase this gift to be stored in their profile inventory until they choose to reward it. However, this feature allows the gray market around some games, where users in countries where the price of games is much lower than elsewhere can hoard copies of games that can be shared to sell to others, especially in areas with far more price high. In August 2016, Valve changed its policy to require that games with VACs and games that support Game Ban will be provided directly to other Steam users, which also serve to combat players working around the VAC and Game Bans, while in May 2017 Valve extend this policy to all games. Changes also place limits on rewards between users from different countries if there is a big difference in the price for games between two different areas.
The Steam Store also allows users to redeem store product keys to add software from their library. Locks are sold by third-party providers such as Humble Bundle (where a portion of the sale is given back to the publisher or distributor), distributed as part of a physical release to redeem the game, or provided to users as part of a promotion, often used to provide Kickstarter and prize funds others. The gray market is around the Steam key, where lesser-reputed buyers buy a large number of Steam keys for games when offered at low cost, then resell these keys to other third-party users or third-party sites at a higher price, making a profit for themselves own. This causes some of these third-party sites, such as G2A, to be involved in this gray market. It is possible for a publisher to have Valve to track where a special key has been used and undo it, remove the product from the user library, leaving the user to find a way out with the third party they purchased. Other legitimate storefronts, such as the Humble Bundle, have set a minimum price to incur in order to obtain Steam keys to prevent bulk purchases from entering the gray market.
In 2013, Steam began receiving game reviews about the game. Other users can rate this review as helpful, funny, or unhelpful, which is then used to highlight the most useful reviews on the game's Steam store page. Steam also collects these reviews and allows users to sort products based on this feedback while browsing the store. In May 2016, Steam increasingly broke this aggregation among all reviews overall and made recently in the last 30 days, Valve changes acknowledging how game updates, especially in Initial Access, can change the impression of the game to users. To prevent abuse of the review system by other developers or third-party agents, Valve modified the review system in September 2016 to discount the review value for games from users who activate the product through a product key instead of directly purchased by Steam Store. , although their reviews remain visible. At the same time, Valve announced that they would end the business relationship with any developer or publisher that they found had abused the review system.
During mid-2011, Valve began offering free games to play, such as Global Agenda , Spiral Knights and Champions Online ; this offer is associated with a company move to make Team Fortress 2 a free title to play. Valves include support via Steamworks for micro transactions for in-game items in this title via Steam's purchase channel, in a similar way to in-game stores for Team Fortress 2. Later that year, Valve added the ability to trade in-game and game gifts "unopened" among users. Steam Coupons, introduced in December 2011, provide disposable coupons that provide discounts for the cost of goods. Steam Coupons may be provided to users by developers and publishers; users can redeem this coupon among friends in a manner similar to gifts and in-game items. Steam Market, a feature introduced in beta in December 2012 that will allow users to sell virtual goods to others via Steam Wallet funds, further expanding the idea. Valve charges a 15% transaction fee on sales and game publishers using Steam Market to pay for the transaction fee. For example, Team Fortress 2 - the first game supported in the beta phase - outputs both costs. Full support for other games is expected to be available in early 2013. In April 2013, Valve added subscription-based game support to Steam; the first game to use this service was Darkfall Unholy Wars .
In October 2012, Steam introduced non-game apps, which were sold through the service in the same way as games. Creativity and productivity applications can access the core functions of the Steamworks API, enabling them to use the simplified installation and update of the Steam process, and incorporating features including cloud savings and Steam Workshop. Steam also allows the soundtrack of games purchased to be played via Steam Music or integrated with other users' media players. Valve also adds the ability for publishers to rent and sell digital movies through the service, initially largely a documentary video game. Following Warner Bros. Entertainment that offers the movie MadGame along with the September 2015 release of the 2015 game based on the series, Lionsgate signed a deal with Valve to hire over a hundred feature films from its catalog via Steam start. in April 2016, with more films following later. In March 2017, Crunchyroll began offering various anime to be bought or rented through Steam. With the start of Steam Engines, the Steam window also includes the ability to purchase hardware related to Steam Engines.
Together with developers and publishers, Valve often gives sales discounts on games every day and every week, sometimes oriented to publishers, genres, or holiday themes, and sometimes allows games to be tried for free during these sales days. The site typically offers a large selection of games with discounts during its annual Summer and Vacation sales, including this sales gamification to incentive users to buy more games.
Privacy and security
The popularity of Steam has led to the service being attacked by hackers in the past. An attempt occurred in November 2011, when Valve temporarily closed the community forum, citing the potential threat of hacking against the service. A few days later, Valve reported that the hack has disrupted one of its customer databases, potentially enabling principals to access customer information - including encrypted passwords and credit card details. At that time, Valve did not know whether the intruder was actually accessing this information or finding the encryption method, but still warned users to be on guard against fraudulent activity.
Valve added Steam Guard functionality to Steam clients in March 2011 to protect against account hijacking through a phishing scheme, one of the biggest support issues Valve had at the time. Steam Guard is advertised to take advantage of the identity protection provided by second generation Intel Core processors and compatible motherboard hardware, allowing users to lock their accounts to specific computers. Once locked, activity with that account on another computer must first be approved by the user on the locked computer. API support for Steam Guard is available for third party developers via Steamworks. Steam Guard also offers two factors, risk-based authentication using a one-time verification code sent to the verified email address associated with the Steam account; this is then extended to include two-factor authentication via the Steam mobile app, known as Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator. If the Steam Guard is enabled, a verification code is sent each time the account is used from an unknown machine.
In 2015, between Steam-based game supplies, trading cards and other virtual goods embedded in user accounts, Valve stated that potential monetary value has attracted hackers to try to access user accounts for financial gain, and continues to encourage users to secure accounts with Steam Guard; when trading was introduced in 2011. Valve reported that in December 2015, about 77,000 accounts per month were hijacked, allowing the hijackers to empty the inventory of user items via a trade feature. To improve security, the company announced that new restrictions will be added in March 2016, where a 15 day hold is placed on traded merchandise unless they activate, and authenticate with Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator.
ReVuln, a commercial vulnerability research firm, published a paper in October 2012 saying that the Steam browser protocol has pose a security risk by allowing malicious exploits via a simple user click on the malicious vapor:// URL in the browser. This report is taken by various online publications. This is the second serious vulnerability of the game-related software following the latest problems with the copy protection system Ubisoft "Uplay"; the German IT platform "Heise online" recommends strict separation of games and sensitive data, such as using a dedicated PC for games, games from a second Windows installation, or using a computer account with limited rights dedicated to playing games.
In July 2015, a bug in the software allowed anyone to reset the password to any account by using the client's "forgot password" function. Gamers and high profile professional streamers lose access to their accounts. In December 2015, the Steam content delivery network was misconfigured in response to a DDoS attack, causing cached store pages containing personal information temporarily exposed to 34,000 users.
In April 2018, Valve added new privacy settings for Steam users, who can set whether their current status of activity is private, visible to friends only, or public; in addition to hiding the list of games, inventory, and other profile elements in the same way. While these changes bring Steam's privacy settings in line with the approach used by game console services, it also impacts third party services like Steam Spy that rely on public data to estimate the number of Steam sales.
Valve founded HackerOne bug bounty board in May 2018, a crowdsourcing method to test and improve the security features of Steam clients.
User interface
Since November 2013, Steam allows users to review titles they purchase and organize them into user-defined categories and add to favorites lists for quick access. Players can add non-Steam games to their library, allowing the game to be easily accessible from Steam clients and providing support whenever possible for the Steam Overlay feature. The Steam interface allows user-defined shortcuts to be added. In this way, third-party mods and games not purchased through the Steam Store can use the Steam feature. Valve sponsors and distributes some modifications at no cost; and modifications using Steamworks can also use VAC, Friends, server browsers, and any Steam features supported by the parent game. For most games launched from Steam, the client provides an in-game overlay accessible to the keystroke. From overlay, users can access their Steam Community list and participate in chats, manage selected Steam settings, and access the built-in web browser without having to quit the game. Since early February 2011 as a beta version, overlay also allows players to take screenshots of the game being processed; it automatically saves this and allows players to review, delete, or share it during or after a session of the game. As a full version on February 24, 2011, this feature is re-implemented so users can share screenshots on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit websites directly from the user screenshot manager.
"Big Picture" mode from Steam was announced in 2011; the public beta starts in September 2012 and is integrated into the software in December 2012. The Large Image Mode is a 10-foot user interface, which optimizes the Steam view to work on high-definition television, allowing users to control Steam with a gamepad or With a keyboard and mouse. Newell stated that Big Picture mode is a step towards dedicated Steam entertainment hardware units. SteamVR, virtual reality (VR) Big Picture interface, introduced in beta in January 2014. SteamVR mode allows users to operate Big Picture mode and play any game in their Steam library with virtual theater displayed through VR headsets, equivalent to viewing 225-inch television screen, according to Valve. This mode was first introduced in beta for the Oculus Rift headset and later expanded in March 2015 to support HTC Vive, a VR unit developed in conjunction with Valve, with features to be released publicly soon after Vive's public launch in April 2016. On -Rivering Streams introduced in May 2014; this allows users to stream games that are installed on one computer to another - regardless of platform - on the same home network.
Steam clients, as part of social networking services, allow users to identify friends and join groups using the Steam Community feature. Users can use text chat and peer-to-peer VoIP with other users, identify which games their friends and other group members are playing, and join and invite friends to a Steamworks-based multiplayer game that supports this feature. Users can participate in forums hosted by Valve to discuss Steam games. Each user has a unique page that shows his or her group and friends, the game library including the earned achievements, game expectations list, and other social features; users can choose to keep this information private. In January 2010, Valve reported that 10 million of the 25 million active Steam accounts have registered to the Steam Community. Along with Summer Sales of Steam 2012, user profiles are updated with Badges that reflect user participation in the Steam community and previous events. Steam Trading Cards, a system in which players get a virtual trading card based on their own game, was introduced in May 2013. Using it, players can trade with other Steam users in the Steam Marketplace and use it to create "Badges", which give gifts such as discount coupons games, emoticons, and the ability to customize their user profile pages. In 2010, Steam clients became OpenID providers, allowing third-party websites to use Steam user identities without requiring users to expose their Steam credentials. To prevent abuse, access to most community features is limited to a one-time payment of at least US $ 5 done for Valve. These requirements can be fulfilled by making a purchase of five dollars or more on Steam, or by adding the same amount to their wallet.
Through Steamworks, Steam provides server browsing tools for multiplayer games that use the Steam Community feature, which allows users to lobby with friends or members of a public group. Steamworks also provides Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC), Valve's anti-cheat system; game servers automatically detect and report users who use cheats in online games, multiplayer. In August 2012, Valve added new features - including a special hub page for games that highlighted the best user-generated content, top forum posts, and screenshots - into the Community area. In December 2012, a feature called Game Guide, where users can upload text and images detailing game and game strategy in the same way as GameFAQ is added. Starting in beta in December 2014 and released publicly in January 2015, Steam clients allow players to broadcast streaming videos to the public or Steam friends while playing video games.
In September 2014, Steam Music, the built-in music player, added to the Steam client, allows users to play via music stored on their computer or to stream from a local network computer.
The new non-peer-to-peer chat feature allows for integrated group and chat buddies with a voice chat comparable to the Discord feature, added to the Steam in beta in June 2018.
Developer features
Valve offers Steamworks, an application programming interface (API) that provides development and publishing tools to take advantage of Steam client features, free for game developers and software. Steamworks provides networking and player authentication tools for peer-to-peer peer-to-peer servers and games, matchmaking services, support for Steam friends and community groups, Steam stats and achievements, integrated voice communications, and Steam Cloud support, allowing games to integrate with Clients steam. The API also provides anti-cheating tools and digital copy management. The software developers available on Steam can track their title sales through the Steam store. In February 2014, Valve announced that it would start allowing developers to set up their own sales for their games that are independent of every sale that Valve can set. Valve adds the ability for developers to sell games under the initial access model with a special "Preferences Access" section of the Steam store, starting in March 2013. This program allows developers to release functional but incomplete products like beta-to-service to allow users to purchase titles and help provide testing and feedback to final production. Initial access also helps provide funds for developers to help complete their degree. The Initial Access Approach allows more developers to publish games to the Steam service without the need for direct curation of the Valve title, significantly increasing the number of titles available on the service.
Developers can request Steam keys for their products to be used as they wish, such as providing promotions, giving selected users for review, or being given to primary resellers for different benefits. Valve generally respects all of these requests, but clarifies that they will evaluate some requests to avoid giving keys to other games or offers designed to manipulate the Steam storefront and other features. For example, Valve says that requests for 500,000 keys to games that have significant negative reviews and 1,000 sales on Steam are unlikely to be granted.
Steam Workshop
The Steam Workshop is a Steam account-based hosting service for videogame user-generated content. Depending on the title, new level, art assets, game modification, or other content may be published or installed from the Steam Workshop through an automated online account-based process. This workshop was originally used for the distribution of new items for Team Fortress 2 ; it was redesigned to expand support for any game in early 2012, including modifications to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim . The May 2012 Patch for Portal 2 , enabled by the new map creation tool through Steam Workshop, introduces the ability to share user-generated levels. Games developed independently, including Dungeons of Dredmor , can provide Steam Workshop support for user-generated content. Dota 2 becomes the third title published Valve available for Steam Workshop in June 2012; Its features include customizable accessories, character skins, and broadcaster packages.
In January 2015, Valve itself has provided some user-generated Workshop content as a paid feature for games developed on Valve, including Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 ; with more than $ 57 million paid to creators using Workshops. Valve started allowing developers to use these powerful features in January 2015; both developers and content generators share the profits from the sale of these items; this feature aired in April 2015, starting with various mods for Skyrim . This feature was withdrawn a few days after following negative user feedback and pricing reports and copyright abuse. Six months later, Valve states that they are still interested in offering this type of functionality in the future, but will review its implementation to avoid previous mistakes. In November 2015, Steam's clients updated with game developers the ability to offer in-game items for direct sales through the store interface, with Rust being the first game to use the feature.
Steam for School
Steam for Schools is a limited version of Steam clients available for free for use in schools. This is part of Valve's initiative to support learning gamification for classroom instruction; it was released with a free version of Portal 2 and a standalone program called "Puzzle Maker" that allows teachers and students to create and manipulate levels. This additional security authentication feature allows teachers to share and distribute content through the Steam Workshop type interface, but it blocks access from students.
Storefront deposition
In general, until 2012, Valve will manually select games to include in the Steam service, limiting this to games that have large developers supporting them, or smaller studios with proven track records for Valve purposes. Valve has been looking for ways to enable more games to offer via Steam, while withdrawing from manually-approved games for services, short of validating that the game runs on a platform that the publisher has indicated. Alden Kroll, a member of the Steam development team, said Valve knew Steam was nearing a monopoly for game sales on personal computers, and the company did not want to be in a position to define what it sold, and thus have tried to find ways to make the process of adding games to Steam is out of their control. At the same time, Valve acknowledges that uncontrolled game controls to the service can lead to discovery problems as well as low-quality games that are put into service to grab cash.
Steam Greenlight
Valve's first attempt to simplify the addition of games to the service was with Steam Greenlight, announced in July 2012 and released the following month. Through Greenlight, Steam users will choose which games are added to the service. Developers can submit information about their games, as well as early build or beta versions, for user consideration. Users will provide support for these games, and Valve will help make top-pledged games available on the Steam service. Responding to complaints during the first week that finding a game to be backed up is difficult by an improper or incorrect filing flood, Valve requires developers to pay US $ 100 to list games on the service to reduce unauthorized submissions. The fees are donated to charity Child's Play. This cost is filled with some concerns from smaller developers, who are often already working in deficit and may not have the money to cover those expenses. The modifications then allow developers to place conceptual ideas on Greenlight services to garner interest in potential projects for free; the votes of these projects can only be seen by the developer. Valve also allows non-game software to be selected into the service via Greenlight.
The initial process offered by Steam Greenlight has been chosen because while developers love the concept, the level of the game that is finally approved by Valve is very small. At that time, Valve admitted that this was a problem and believed it could be fixed. In January 2013, Newell stated that Valve recognizes that his role in Greenlight is perceived as an obstacle, something the company plans to eliminate in the future through open market infrastructure. On the eve of Greenlight's first birthday, Valve simultaneously approved 100 titles through the Greenlight process to show this direction change. While Greenlight's services have helped bring more and more games to Steam without excessive bureaucracy, it also caused a lot of games in services that make it difficult for one title to stand out, and as early as 2014, Valve has discussed plans to stop the Greenlight process to give developers a it's easier to put their games into the Steam service.
Steam Direct
Steam Greenlight has been removed and replaced with Steam Direct in June 2017. With Steam Direct, developers or publishers wishing to distribute their games on Steam only need to fill in the appropriate identification and tax forms for Valve and then pay the reusable app fee for each game. they intend to publish. After they sign up, the developer will have to wait thirty days before publishing the game to give Valve the ability to review the game to make sure it's "configured correctly, matches the description provided on the store page, and contains no malicious content."
When announcing his plans for Steam Direct, Valve suggested the cost would be $ 100-5,000, which is intended to encourage the delivery of genuine software to the service and get rid of poor quality titles treated as shovelware, increasing the discovery pipeline for Steam customers. Smaller developers are raising concerns about their immediate costs that are detrimental to them, and excluding indie games that are potentially good for reaching the Steam market. Valve chose to charge a direct $ 100 fee after reviewing the concerns of the community, acknowledging the need to keep this at a low number for small developers, and outlining plans to improve their discovery algorithms and injecting more human involvement to help this. Valve then returns the fee if the game exceeds $ 1000 in sales. In the transition from Greenlight to Direct, Valve has massively approved most of the remaining 3,400 titles in Greenlight, although the company notes that not all of these are in a country to be published. Valve anticipates that new game volumes added to the service will increase with Live on-site. Some groups, such as Raw Fury publishers and Fig's funding/investment site, have offered to pay a direct fee for indie developers who can not afford it.
Discovery updates
Without more direct interaction with the curation process, allowing hundreds of more games in the service, Valve has searched for methods to allow players to discover games that they are likely to buy based on previous purchasing patterns. "Update Discovery" September 2014 adds a tool that will allow existing Steam users to become curators for game recommendations, and sort the functionality that presents more popular titles and titles recommended specifically for users, to allow more games introduced in Steam without the need for Steam Greenlight, while providing several ways to highlight user-recommended games. This inventory update was deemed successful by Valve, as they reported in March 2015 in view of increased Steam Storefront usage and an 18% increase in sales based on earnings shortly before the update. The second Discovery update was released November 2016, giving users more control over what titles they want to see or ignore in the Steam Store, along with tools for developers and publishers to better customize and present their games in this new user preference. In February 2017, Valve reported that with the second Discovery update, the number of games displayed to users via the store front page increased by 42%, with more conversions becoming sales from those audiences. By 2016, more games meet the success metrics set by Valve as selling more than $ 200,000 in revenue in the first 90 days of release. Valve adds a "Curator Connect" program in December 2017. Receivers can set descriptions for the types of games they're interested in, preferred languages, and other tags along with social media profiles, while developers can find and reach certain curators of this information, and, after review, giving them direct access to their game. This move, which eliminates the use of steam exchange keys, aims to reduce key resales, as well as deter users who might try to run the curator's system to get the free game key.
Valve has been trying to deal with "fake games", built around reused assets and other little innovations, designed to misuse the Steam feature to profit only to developers or select multiple users. To help find and remove these games from the service, the company added Steam Explorers over the existing Steam Curator program, according to various YouTube personalities who have talked about such games in the past and with Valve directly, including Jim Sterling and TotalBiscuit. Any Steam user can register to be an Explorer, and asked to view low-performing games on the service to ensure that the game is genuine and disappears among other releases, or if it is an example of a "fake game" , at which point Valve can take action to remove the game.
Policy
In June 2015, Valve made a formal process to allow buyers to request a full refund on games they had purchased on Steam for any reason, with a refund guaranteed within the first two weeks as long as the player does not spend more than two hours in the game. Prior to June 2015, Valve had a policy without refund, but allowed them under certain circumstances, such as if third-party content failed to work or reported incorrectly about certain features. For example, the Steam Version From Dust was originally declared to have a single, post-install DRM on-line with its publisher Ubisoft, but the released version of the game requires a DRM check with the Ubisoft server each time it is used. At Ubisoft's request, Valve offers refunds to customers who buy games while Ubisoft works to release patches that will remove DRM checks altogether. In the The War Z ' release, players find that the game is still alpha-build and does not have the many features advertised on its Steam store page. Although Hammerpoint Interactive developers changed the description after launch to reflect the current state of the game software, Valve removed the title from Steam and offered a refund to those who had purchased it. Valve also removes Earth: Year 2066 from the Initial Access program and offers refunds after discovering that game developers have reused assets from other games and used the developer tool to remove negative complaints about titles. Valve says it will continue to work to improve the discovery process for users, taking the principles they learned in providing transparency for matchmaking at Dota 2 to make the process better, and using it against Steam's storefront procedures to help improve the their algorithm with user feedback.
Valve has full authority to remove games from the service for various reasons; but deleted games can still be downloaded and played by those who have purchased these titles. Another reason is that games that have expired their licenses may no longer be sold, as when a number of Game Transformers published by Activision under license from Hasbro were removed from stores in January 2018. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City has been removed from Steam in 2012 due to claims from the Recording Industry Association of America over expired licenses for one of the songs on the soundtrack. Around the launch of Electronic Arts' (EA) own Origin digital storefront during the same year, Valve deleted Crysis 2 , Dragon Age II , and Alice: Madness Returns from Steam because the terms of service prevent games from having their own in-game storefront for downloadable content. In the case of Crysis 2 , " Maximum Edition " which contains all downloadable content for the game and delete the in-game storefront is added back to Steam. Valve also removes games that are officially declared to infringe on copyright or other intellectual property when given such complaints. In 2016, Valve deleted Orion by Trek Industries when Activision filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaint about the game after it was discovered that one of the artists in the game had taken, among other assets, directly from the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare .
Valve has also been removed or threatened to remove the game due to inappropriate or vulgar content, although there is often confusion about what material qualifies for this, such as a number of adult visual novels, but non-pornography is under threat. To clear up this confusion, Valve made a formal clarification of the newly adopted policy in June 2018, stating that they will allow any content on their systems outside titles that they believe are illegal in certain areas, or from developers who "fish" the system. As an example of the latter, Valve Lombardi states that the game Active Shooter , which will allow players to play as SWAT team members assigned to lower the shooter at the school shooting incident or as the shooter itself, is an example of trolling, because he described it "designed to do nothing but generate anger and cause conflict through its existence". While Active Shooter has been removed from Steam before Valve issued this policy statement on the grounds that the development has abused Steam service terms and conditions, Lombardi insists that they will remove the game if it is already offered by other developers. The day after making this new policy, Valve then deleted four unreleased titles from services that apparently also made to intentionally create anger, including the AIDS Simulator and ISIS Simulator .
Any other action taken by the developer against other terms of service or policy will encourage Valve to remove the game. Some examples noted include:
- Following a lawsuit made by the Digital Homicide Studio Developer of 100 unnamed Steam users for leaving a bad review about its game sometime in September 2016, Valve later deleted their game from the window "because it is hostile to Steam customers" , according to a response written by Doug Lombardi of Valve. Digital killing then nullifies the lawsuit, in part due to the removal of the game from Steam that influenced their financial ability to continue the lawsuit.
- In September 2017, Valve deleted 170 games developed by Silicon Echo (operating under several different names) that they released for several months in 2017, after the implementation of Steam Direct. Valve says that this is a cheap "fake game" that relies on "asset returns" with existing Unity assets so they can be issued quickly, and is designed to take advantage of the trading card market to allow players and developers to benefit from trading card sales.
- In February 2018, after learning that the CEO of Insel Games had asked company employees to write a positive review about Steam for his game to manipulate the review score, Valve removed all Insel titles from the service and banned the company from it..
In addition to removing malicious actors from the service, Valve also took steps to mitigate the impact of "fake games" and their misuse of services. In May 2017, Valve identified that there were several games on the service with the support of a trading card, in which the developer distributed the game code to thousands of bot-operated accounts that would run the game to get a trading card which they could then sell for a profit; this game will also create a positive mistake that makes these titles appear more popular than they really are and will affect the recommended games for legitimate players through their store algorithms, which affect the Steam Discovery algorithm. After this patch, the game must achieve some type of trust factor based on actual play time before they can generate trading cards, with players credited for the time they play to receive trading cards before these metrics are met. Valve identifies the same situation in June 2018 with a "fake game" that offers a large number of game achievements with no slight gameplay aspect, which some users will use to improve their global achievement stats displayed on their profiles. Valve plans to use the same approach and algorithm to identify this type of game, limiting these games to only a thousand total achievements and discounting this achievement toward user statistics.
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Supported platforms
Microsoft Windows
Steam was originally released exclusively for Microsoft Windows in 2003, but has since been ported to other platforms.
New Steam client version uses features provided by Google Chrome engine. To take advantage of some Chrome features for newer interface elements, Steam needs to use the 64-bit Chrome version, which since about 2016, is not supported on Windows XP and Windows Vista. Steam on Windows also relies on some security features built into newer versions of Windows. Valve announced that it will lower Steam support for XP and Vista in early 2019, and while they can still use Steam clients, may not have access to new features to be added. At the time of this announcement in June 2018, only about 0.22% of Steam users will be affected by this.
Mac OS X
On March 8, 2010, Valve announced clients for Mac OS X. This announcement was preceded by changes in Steam beta clients to support WebKit cross-platform web crawler browser instead of the Trident Internet Explorer engine. Prior to this announcement, Valve teased the release by sending multiple image e-mails to the Mac community and gaming websites; the image features characters from the Valve game with the Apple logo and a parody of a Macintosh vintage ad. Valve developed a video full of respect for Apple 1984 Macintosh commercial to announce the availability of Half-Life 2 and its episodes on the service; some concept images for previous videos have been used to tempt Mac Steam clients.
Steam for Mac OS X was originally planned for release in April 2010; but was pushed back to May 12, 2010, after the beta period. In addition to Steam clients, several features are available to developers, enabling them to utilize cross source platform engines, and network platforms and capabilities using Steamworks. Through SteamPlay , Mac OS X clients allow players who have purchased compatible Windows-based products to download Mac versions at no cost, allowing them to continue playing games on other platforms. Some third-party titles may require users to repurchase them to gain access to cross-platform functionality. Steam Cloud is compatible with cross platform. Multi-player games can also be cross-compatible, allowing Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux players to play with each other.
Linux
Valve announced in July 2012 that they developed Steam clients for Linux and modified the Source machine to work natively on Linux, based on the Ubuntu distribution. This announcement follows months of speculation, especially from the Phoronix website which has found evidence of Linux development in the latest build of Steam and other Valve software. Newell states that getting Steam and games to work on Linux is a key strategy for Valve; Newell calls the closed nature of Microsoft Windows 8, "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space", and that Linux will maintain a "platform openness". Valve extends support for every developer who wants to bring their games to Linux, by "making it as easy as possible for anyone involved with us - putting their game on Steam and running it on Linux", according to Newell.
The team that developed the Linux client has been working for a year before the announcement to validate that such a port would be possible. At the official announcement, the almost complete Steam client features for Linux have been developed and successfully run on Ubuntu. Testing internal Linux client beta starts in October 2012; external beta testing took place in early November of the same year. The open beta client for Linux is available at the end of December 2012, and the client is officially released in mid-February 2013. At the time of the announcement, the Valve Linux division assured that its first game on OS, Left 4 Dead 2, acceptable frame rates and with a level of connectivity with Windows and Mac OS X versions. From there, start working on porting other games to Ubuntu and extending them to other Linux distributions. Linux games are also eligible for SteamPlay availability. The version of Steam working under Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux was released in October 2013. As of June 2014, the number of compatible Linux games on Steam has reached over 500, exceeding over 1,000 in March 2015. A year later, this number is twice folding up to more than 2,000.
Console
At E3 2010, Newell announced that Steamworks will arrive on PlayStation 3 with Portal 2 . This will provide automatic updates, community support, downloadable content, and other features not announced. Steamworks made its debut on the console with the Portal 2 ' s PlayStation 3 release. Some features - including cross-platform games and instant messaging, Steam Cloud for saved games, and the ability for PS3 owners to download Portal 2 from Steam (Windows and Mac) at no additional cost - are offered. Counter-Strike's Valve's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive also supports Steamworks and cross-platform features on PlayStation 3, including using keyboard and mouse controls as an alternative to gamepad. Valve says "hope [s] to expand this foundation with more features and functionality of Steam in DLC and upcoming content releases". In October 2016, Valve announced plans to provide a controller customization feature similar to what Steam controllers offer for Steam controllers for other third-party controllers, starting with DualShock 4.
Xbox 360 does not have support for Steamworks. Newell says that they want to bring service to the console via the Counter-Strike game: Global Offensive, which will allow Valve to provide the same feature set as it did for PlayStation 3, but later said that cross-platform games will not be present in the final version of this game. Valve attributes the inability to use Steamworks on the Xbox 360 to limitations in Xbox Live rules the ability to provide patches and new content. Valve Erik Johnson stated that Microsoft needs new content in the console to be certified and validated before being distributed, which would limit the usability of the Steamworks delivery approach.
Mobile platform
Valve released the official Steam client for iOS and Android devices at the end of January 2012, after a short beta period. This app allows players to sign into their accounts to browse storefronts, manage their games, and communicate with friends in the Steam community. The app also incorporates a two-factor authentication system that works with Steam Guard, which further enhances the security of user accounts. Newell stated that the app is a strong demand from Steam users and sees it as a means of "making [Steam] richer and more accessible for everyone". Steam mobile client for Windows Phone devices released in June 2016.
On May 14, 2018, the software version of Steam Link technology was released in beta to allow users to stream games to Android phones. It was also delivered by Valve to the iOS App Store, but was rejected by Apple Inc., citing "business conflicts with app guidelines". Apple then clarified its rules at the Worldwide Apple Developer Conference in early June, in which iOS apps may not offer app-like purchasing stores, but do not limit applications that provide remote desktop support that will allow users to purchase content via remote Desktop. In response, Valve removes the ability to purchase games or other content via the Steam Link App and resubmit it for approval in June 2018.
Valve also plans to release Steam Video app for mobile platform later that year to allow users to stream whatever media they have via Steam.
Steam Engine
Prior to 2013, industry analysts believed that Valve developed Steam's hardware and tuning features with a clear use of its own hardware. These computers are pre-emptively nicknamed as "Steam Boxes" by the gaming community and are expected to be special machines that focus on Steam functionality and maintain the core functionality of traditional video game consoles. In September 2013, Valve launched SteamOS, a special Linux-based operating system they developed specifically aimed at running Steam and games, a console input device called Steam Controller, and the final concept of Steam Machine hardware. Unlike other consoles, Steam Engines do not have hardware; the technology is implemented at the factory's discretion and is fully customizable, such as personal computers.
Users
Valve reports that there are 125 million active accounts in Steam by the end of 2015. In August 2017, the company reported that there were 27 million new active accounts since January 2016, bringing the number of active users to at least 150 million. Although most accounts come from North America and Western Europe, Valve has experienced significant growth in accounts from Asian countries in recent years, driven by their work to help localize clients and make additional currency options available to buyers. In November 2017, more than half of Steam users spoke fluent Chinese, an effect created by explosive growth of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds during 2017. After the block ordered many Steam functions by the Chinese government in December 2017, Valve and Perfect World announced that they would
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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