Steam

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Not to be confused with env_steam (the entity for the in-game steam effect).

Steam

Developer(s)

Valve Corporation

Publisher(s)

Valve Corporation

Release date(s)

September 12, 2003

Platform(s)

Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS

Official website

Store page
Steam Community

Screenshot of Steam application, with the new redesigned UI (in August 2023)

Screenshot of Steam mobile app (in August 2023)

Screenshot of Steam homepage (circa 2012)

Steam is Valve's distribution platform, created to kick-start the digital distribution era for games. Steam allows users to easily purchase, download, play and update games online. It also helps developers by allowing them to break out of the innovation-crushing "retail and publisher" distribution model and offering them huge improvements to their profit margins and creative freedom.

Steam client is currently available for Windows, macOS and Linux. A mobile version of Steam is also available for Android and iOS/iPadOS.

Steam makes it easy to update games & software automatically just like other similar software. Steam isn't the first software to do this, but it's become popular worldwide for gaming. Users had to visit separate websites that used to have their own steps and installers.

Originally, Steam, at the time of it's release, it only offered Valve games, or some games that use Valve IPs. This was later changed in 2005, when Steam starts to offers games from various third-party developers, whether they use Valve's engines, IPs or not.

History and updates

Steam was announced at GDC 2002, and a beta version of the client was later released that day, on March 22, 2002. At the time when Steam Beta was released, it also had Tracker, which allows you to find servers, add friends and chat with friends. Tracker also has a desktop interface and in-game overlay. This later become the "Friends" feature which are located on the game menu (GoldSrc and Source) or the Steam client, and some of the Tracker features (like Half-Life Desktop/Tracker overlay) eventually make a return in 2007, as a Steam overlay which support more games (outside Valve titles). Aside from that, a beta version of Counter-Strike 1.4 (and Half-Life, along with other GoldSrc games) was also released.

Steam was later released out of beta on September 12, 2003, Counter-Strike 1.6 was also released, along with all other GoldSrc games updated to rely on Steam, instead of WON (World Opponent Network). WON was later shut down in 2004.

Steam added PayPal as a payment option on 22 November 2006.

Steam Community, in-game overlay (Steam Overlay) and Achievements support was added in August 6, 2007 (public beta), with the release of The Steam Community Update. This update later rolled out on September 13, 2007. Around that time, Steam support for Windows 98 and ME was dropped, and both GoldSrc and Source games are updated (on the same day) to remove the "Friends" menu option in favor of Steam Overlay.

Steam added macOS support in May 12, 2010.

Steam Workshop was launched in October 14, 2011. Steam Workshop is a place where anyone can upload content to Steam Workshop, and subscribe to download the custom content for a game. Users can vote the content to increase the star ratings. It is also used for hosting items (non-downloadable content) for games like Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike 2.

In 2012, Steam Greenlight was launched, allowing indie and small developers to publishing games on Steam and let users vote if the game was good enough to be published on Steam Store.

Steam added Linux support in February 14, 2013, with all Source Multiplayer games (such as Team Fortress 2) updated to support Linux. Around that same year, Steam dropped support for Windows 2000, and games were being transferred to the new SteamPipe system around this time, which allow developers to publish new game updates without requiring Valve approvals, and to make most older Source games easier to mod while keeping the original game files intact. All Valve Source 2009, Source Multiplayer and remaining Source 2004 and Source 2006 titles are updated to Source 2013 on March to May 2013.

SteamOS was launched in 2015, SteamOS is a Linux-based distribution which was preinstalled with Steam. Since 2022, it is currently being used in Steam Deck, but previous versions are available for Steam Machines and other PCs.

Steam Direct was launched in 2017, which replaced Steam Greenlight.

Steam dropped support for Windows XP and Vista in Jan 1, 2019.

Custom Steam skins are no longer supported on June 15, 2023 as the entire VGUI has been replaced by Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF).

In Jan 1, 2024, Steam no longer supports Windows 7 through 8.1, these systems later stop receiving latest Steam updates after November 2024. Latest version compatible with Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 is available here.

In February 15, 2024, Steam dropped support for macOS Mojave 10.14 or earlier. This also meant that all 32-bit games are no longer supported on all Macs after macOS Catalina (10.15).

In June 12, 2025, a native Apple Silicon (ARM) version of Steam for macOS has been released as a beta, as Apple is planning to limit Rosetta 2 support to unmaintained Intel-based games.

Features

Steam Chat

Main article:  Steam/Steam Chat

Steam Chat (formerly Friends) is a instant messaging feature on Steam, which allows players to chat with friends, create groups, and using voice chat.

Steam Input API

Steam Input API (previously known as Steam Controller API), allows player to control the game using any third-party controllers (or non-Xbox controllers) such as DualShock 4, DualSense (PS5), Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, and more. With Steam Input API, it means that when Steam adds more supported input devices or methods to the Steam Input layer, games will automatically support those new devices and methods without any additional development time required by the game developers. All buttons can be customizable on the Steam client itself.

Additionally, Steam Input also provide a wrapper to add support for non-Xbox controller on older games that uses XInput/DirectInput (example: Source 2009 or earlier), or emulate as keyboard & mouse to controlling games that does not have controller support.

List of Games with Steam Input API

This is the list of GoldSrc, Source and Source 2 games that support Steam Input API:

Valve

• Aperture Desk Job
• Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
• Dota 2
• Deadlock
• Half-Life (since 25th Anniversary)
• Half-Life 2 (since 2022)
  • Half-Life 2: Episode One
  • Half-Life 2: Episode Two
  • Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
• Portal (since 2022)
• Portal 2
• Left 4 Dead
• Left 4 Dead 2

Third-party

• Black Mesa
• Insurgency

Todo: Add more third-party games

Limitations/Bugs

Important:It's almost impossible to get older versions of the games without piracy, using Steam Developer Console to download depots or using retail versions of those games. This makes preservation of .dem files and Workshop Items, or playing mods which require specific versions of a game/software, that are impossible just with Steam. However, there are some cases which the developers (like Valve), may release a beta branch that allows you to downgrade to older versions of the game.

Warning:Steam will verify the files before launching the game after some Steam update. Users can't skip it at all. A 14.1 GB game may take up to 10-30 minutes on slower or busy PCs with some games.

Note:Downloads are compressed; many updates take 11MB to download and 716MB to patch

Warning:Steam cannot only download and install certain files that the user wants.

Steam Status & Statistics

• Steam Charts - Player Stats, Top Sellers, Most Played Games
• Steam Hardware & Software Survey
• Content Server Status
• Customer Support Status
• Unofficial Steam Status (by SteamDB)

For more information on Steam and how to get it, visit the official About page of Steam. To launch Steam, click here.

Install scripts

Todo: How to find, create, debug them?

Games, mods, DLCs and Workshop items

Todo: How are they compared?

System Requirements

Windows

Windows Minimum Recommended Operating system (OS) Windows 10 or later Processor (CPU) Any with 1GHz or faster and SSE3 instruction set N/A System memory (RAM) 4GB+ (due to operating systems) 8GB+ (or depends on how many games/software that has been installed) Hard disk drive (HDD/SSD) 1GB* Depends on games/software that has been installed Video card (GPU) Any supported Any supported Other Windows 7 and 8/8.1 are no longer supported since Jan 1, 2024, with latest Steam client no longer supporting these systems after November 2024. However these older version is still able to connect to Steam but features may eventually break or stop working. Windows 9x to Vista are also no longer supported.

Mac

macOS (OS X) Minimum Recommended Operating system (OS) OS X Big Sur (11) Latest version of macOS Processor (CPU) (Intel x86) Any with 1GHz or faster and SSE3 instruction set (Apple Silicon) Fully supported N/A System memory (RAM) 2-4GB+ 8GB+ Hard disk drive (HDD/SSD) 1GB* Depends on games/software that has been installed Video card (GPU) Any supported N/A Other Support for Steam on OS X Catalina (10.15) or earlier has been dropped, and no longer received updates. However older versions of Steam will be able to operate, but some features or functionality may eventually break or stop working. Steam also dropped support for both 32-bit only Mac games in February 15, 2024. Support for macOS Big Sur will be dropped in October 15th, 2025.

Linux

Linux Minimum Operating system (OS) Depends on Linux distros Processor (CPU) Any with 1GHz or faster and SSE3 instruction set System memory (RAM) 2-4GB+ Hard disk drive (HDD/SSD) 1GB* Video card (GPU) Any supported

Warning:

• Steam no longer supports Windows 7, Windows 8 and 8.1 in Jan 1, 2024, and no longer receives updates as of Nov 5, 2024, but is still functional on these operating systems.
• Support for Windows XP and Windows Vista and earlier was dropped in Jan 1, 2019.
• Support for both 32-bit Mac games, macOS 10.15 (Catalina) and 10.14 (Mojave) or earlier has been dropped. Steam will continue to function on these operating systems, but some features or functionality may eventually stop working.

ChromeOS (Chromebook)

ChromeOS (Chromebook) Minimum Operating system (OS) N/A Processor (CPU) At least an Intel i3 or Ryzen 3 CPU System memory (RAM) 8GB+ RAM Hard disk drive (HDD/SSD) 128GB See Chromebook Help Center for list of supported devices.

Note:Storage requirements would be changed over time depending on how many games/software you have installed.

See also

• SteamCMD
• SteamPipe
• Category:Steam

External links

• Steam Store Homepage
• About page (Download Steam)
• Steam Community Homepage
• Steam Community Discussions