Instantly access to your favorite games on Steam, with thousands of games, exclusive deals, automatic game updates and other great perks. With Steam you can also join the Steam Community of PC gamers, join game groups, form clans, chat in-game and more.
Why is Steam so popular?
Steam was originally created by Half-Life developer Valve as a platform to update their games and distribute them digitally. The service had a slow start, then facing competition from brick and mortar stores and physical copies, but it wasn’t long until it became the largest digital distribution platform for PC gaming. Over the years Valve has successfully created a platform that hosts games from most other publishers, studios, and game creators in general.
Name a few great free games available on Steam…
We have two dedicated articles highlighting great titles available for free on Steam, but to name a few popular ones: Counter-Strike, Apex Legends, Lost Ark, PUBG, Destiny 2, War Thunder, Dota 2, Warframe, Team Fortress 2, and World of Warships.
Is there anything better than Steam?
Steam remains the biggest PC gaming platform, but there are good alternatives like the Epic Games Store, GOG Galaxy, Uplay, Origin and Itch.io.
Does Steam have Fortnite?
Fortnite is developed by Epic Games, who have their own competing platform, so Fortnite is not on Steam.
Is there a monthly fee for Steam?
Absolutely not. Steam is free and the platform makes money through the sale of games and other digital content.
How do I install Steam Beta?
Opting in to the Steam Client Beta lets you use the latest features before they’re released.
Please follow the instructions below to participate in the Steam client beta:
- With Steam running, click on “Steam” in the upper left, then choose the “Settings” menu. (Preferences on Mac)
- On the “Account” tab under “Beta Participation” click the “Change…” button.
- Select the “Steam Beta Update” from the drop down list and click “OK”.
- You will be prompted to restart Steam, please select the “Restart Steam” button.
If you are using Big Picture Mode:
- Select ‘Settings’ then ‘System’
- Check the ‘Participate in client beta’ option
- Follow the prompt to restart Steam
Create and Share Content
Gift your friends, trade items, and even create new content for games in the Steam Workshop. Help shape the future of your favorite games.
Entertainment Anywhere
Whether you’re on a PC, Mac, Linux box, mobile device, or even your television, you can enjoy the benefits of Steam. Take the fun with you.
Available on PC, Mac, and Linux
We offer a catalog of PC, Mac, and Linux games, many of which support Steam Play so you can buy once and play anywhere, and Cross-Platform Multiplayer so you can play with all your friends, no matter where they log in.
What’s New
A new Steam client has been released and will be automatically downloaded.
Local Network Game Transfers
- Added new feature that allows Steam users to copy existing Steam game installation and update files from one PC to another over a local area network, without having to download and install from a Steam content server on the internet. This reduces internet traffic and can speed up installs or updates.
- Steam users have control over who files can be sent to: self only, friends only, or everyone. The default setting is self only.
- More info about this new feature can be found here
General
- Added UI that temporarily replaces the “What’s New” section of the Library when pre-purchased games are available to pre-load or install and play
- Added UI at startup for account selection
- Added a “sign out” option to the main menu that removes credentials for the signed in account from the machine
- Fixed a crash when the OS is notifying Steam that it should shutdown
- Improved performance of games when using Steam Workshop APIs
- Refreshed the profile games page with a new style and improved performance
- Fixed crash for some uses of %command% in shortcut launch options
- Fixed quotes surrounding shortcut exe and paths
- Fixed “Steam Library Folder” dialog showing in Downloads settings
- Fixed soundtrack cover art, artist, and track information not appearing in Additional Content section of app details
- Fixed some actions that should have opened external applications, such as a URL in your default browser, that were instead doing nothing
- Fixed a crash loading the standalone controller configurator
- Fixed another issue blocking download of precached shaders
Big Picture Mode
- Improved performance in Big Picture Mode when using Nvidia GPUs
- Fixed issue where the old BPM on-screen keyboard would appear at the same time as the new BPM virtual keyboard
- Fixed issue where user could not re-enter a context submenu after backing out of it
- Fixed issue where incoming chat messages would not be delivered properly while in-game
- Reduced flashing in background when scrolling through games on home screen
- Game invites in the Quick Access Menu will now default to opening a context menu to accept the invite rather than navigating to the chat tab and having to hit “Accept” there.
- Added ability to retrieve Steam Runtime System Information for Linux devices
- Improved UI responsiveness when reconnecting to Steam
- Fixed the appearance of jumbled UI that could happen for a second or two when starting Steam
- Removed unclickable area at bottom of the library
- Fixed the ability to rename collections, which was instead being interpreted as navigating the app grid
- Added “Turn Off Steam Link” to the Big Picture power menu
- Fixed crash when in a voice chat
- Fixed crash when authorizing a microtransaction purchase in the overlay
- Fixed the Play button stealing focus when a game is launching
- Fixed “Find games to play with friends” not working in Big Picture Mode
- Constrain the width of settings, chat, and other non-grid based views when on larger monitors
- Fixed the screen remaining blurred after a “What’s New” post was dismissed
- Fixed some issues where a game window was not focused properly after launching it on Windows 10 or 11.
- Fixed an issue where Steam was not focused properly after exiting a game
- Fixed misalignment of loading throbber after logging in.
- Fixed universal search not applying mature content filtering preferences
Steam Input
- Added support for the Sony DualSense Edge controller including support for remapping of the rear buttons.
- Added a loading throbber when waiting on Steam Cloud to update
- Improved the latency of querying the workshop in the Configuration Browser and fix issues with configurations popping-in or opening the wrong tab because results weren’t fully received
- Added a loading throbber that shows while the Configuration Browser workshop query is running
- Fixed PS5 edge settings leaking into PS5 controller
- Fixed Steam Link app mobile touch gyro not working
- Fixed crash exiting deadzone visualization
- Fixed the physical input visualization only looking at the first connected controller
- Fixed rumble for Nintendo Joy-Con controllers
- Added support for the Razer Wolverine V2 controllers
- Added the ability to reset the device input mapping in new Big Picture
- Added the ability to install and uninstall the Windows Xbox Enhanced Features driver to the new Big Picture controller settings
- Updated the Windows Xbox Enhanced Features driver with the following changes:
- Added support for Xbox Series X controllers connected via the Xbox Wireless Adapter
- Fixed delay detecting hotplugged USB controllers, occasionally causing duplicate controllers in Steam
- Fixed interference with the Victrix Control Hub after the driver has been uninstalled
- Fixed Logitech F310 controller input on macOS and Linux
- Added mapping for DualSense Edge Wireless Controller on Linux (note that advanced feature support require Steam to be able to access the /dev/hidraw* devices)
- Fixed unintended inversion of Gyroscope Roll Axis on Steam Deck
- Added some optimization around DualSense adaptive trigger effects interaction with the Bluetooth stack
Steam Deck
- Move advanced HDR options to Developer Settings
- Streamable games are now included in the “Ready to play” game filter, though the default action is still to install them locally.
- Fixed a bug preventing some Demo apps that store files under the full-game App ID from uploading to Steam Cloud from Steam Deck devices
- Stop prompting users to register for Steam Deck rewards if they have chosen the “Ignore Forever” option
- Fixed some transparency issues with the background in the in-game overlay.
Related Posts:
