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Steam To Start Selling And Distributing Non-Gaming Software, On 5th September

News & Rumors Other

Back in July, users of the Steam Mobile app quickly noticed a variety of strange software-related genre categories had popped up in the Steam Store. When searched for manually, these ten software categories would automatically redirect you to a currently inexistent Software landing page in the Store.

At the time, these findings fueled speculation that Valve were planning on adding actual software applications to the Steam Store. And as we all know, once the community starts speculating, it never stops. Unless Valve themselves intervene… which they have, in the form of an official announcement! Read on.

Steam To Start Selling And Distributing Non-Gaming Software, On 5th September

Today, Valve announced that new software applications would be coming to the Steam Store on the 5th of September. Here’s part of the official press release:

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.”

A very interesting move, indeed! And it certainly seems like Valve is taking it very seriously, as the Steamworks suite of features will almost certainly make for an excellent user experience on all fronts. I can definitely see why they would – this represents an incredibly significant move for Steam as a whole, and it makes sense not only from a business perspective, but also from a customer-first perspective (Valve’s specialty).

Let’s think of it this way. A large majority of Netizens (hopefully this is the last time I have to use that term) are either involved in software and media development, or are very interested in getting their feet wet in these domains. So what better way to help them out with getting involved, than by giving them the means to do so, as part of the Steam experience?

And supporting independent software development through Steam Greenlight? Now you’re talking, Valve – this is all starting to sound unbelievably exciting!

Valve gave no further details on what we can expect to see in this launch wave of Software apps, or on the possible pricepoints of these software apps. However, these are the 10 software categories that were accidentally made accessible in the Steam Mobile app back in July:

  • Accounting
  • Animation & Modelling
  • Audio Production
  • Design & Illustration
  • Education
  • Photo Editing
  • Software Training
  • Utilities
  • Video Production
  • Web Publishing

I can only assume that we can expect to see quite a few of these in the original launch set. Hopefully they aren’t too pricey, though!

In any case, I think we can all agree that the Summer Sales are about to get a lot more interesting!

Credit to ValveTime for publicizing July’s software discoveries on the Steam Mobile app’s Store.

9 Comments

  1. I can’t help it but think Valve finds the Win8 store a threat (Gabe has expressed his dislike for the upcoming OS and its store will be competing with Steam), and this is their response to it.

    I like Valve and I don’t mind giving my money to them, but the fact that they are the kings of online distribution worries me; it would seem as if they planned to become ‘the one and only’ online store.

    Besides, the only kind of software they have worked on is gaming, and I rather have a fantastic store specialised in selling games than a ‘meh’ store that sells everything.

    I wonder how this move will work on Linux: will Valve be some sort of Aptitude or App Store that provide the myriad of day-to-day applications the users need or will they have a more limited catalogue?

    Anyway, as Overkill said, this can only be interesting.

    • So the Steam software itself, and the Source Film Maker both fall under “games”?

      • Evilpplz is right. Steam has always been offering non-gaming stuff. SDKs, films, E-books and strategy guides, and so on. In fact, if I recall correctly, they even sell actual Razer Hydra peripheral gaming hardware, to U.S. citizens. This isn’t anything to be worried about.

  2. I won’t pay for Photoshop through Adobe, and I won’t pay for Photoshop through Steam. If the programs didn’t cost $1000 dollars, I would.

    • I think more people own a pirated version of Photoshop than a legitimate copy.

      • Adobe and Autodesk are all chill with pirated copies.
        Because if you get a job where your experience with the (pirated) software is needed, they will buy that software for you to use. It’s a win-win.

        • To be honest, I don’t think they’re that worried about that kind of piracy, because I would imagine it only cements their dominance in the marketplace. Adobe would like everyone to know how to use Photoshop, whether they pay for it or not (and at one point they may very well have to pay for it).

  3. rally cool but can the programs be run on windows 8 witout microsoft lincense?

  4. well, this can only be interesting.

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