Steam is a digital service that sells and delivers games online. It was created by Valve Corporation in 2003 as a program to automatically update Valve's games. Later, in 2005, it began selling games from other companies. Steam provides features such as online game matching with anti-cheating tools, social networking, and streaming services. The Steam program includes tools for updating games, storing files in the cloud, and offering community tools like messaging, an in-game chat window, discussion boards, and a marketplace for collectibles. The online store also sells productivity software, game soundtracks, videos, and hardware made by Valve, such as the Valve Index and the Steam Deck.
Steamworks, a tool introduced in 2008, helps game developers add Steam features, like controlling how games are used, to their products. Many game companies started selling their games on Steam that year. Steam was first made for Windows computers but was later adapted to work on macOS in 2010 and Linux in 2013. A mobile version of Steam for iOS and Android devices was released in 2012 to let users access online features.
Steam is the largest online platform for PC games. In 2013, it had about 75% of the market share, according to IHS Screen Digest. By 2017, sales through Steam reached about $4.3 billion, or 18% of all PC game sales globally, according to Steam Spy. By 2021, Steam had over 34,000 games and more than 132 million users who played games on the service each month. Because of its success, Valve created Steam Machine computers in 2015, including the SteamOS operating system and Steam Controller. Steam also made devices for streaming games locally and released the Steam Deck in 2022, a handheld device designed to run Steam games.
History
In the early 2000s, Valve wanted to find a better way to update its published games. At the time, giving downloadable patches for multiplayer games caused most users to disconnect from online play for several days until the patches were installed. Valve decided to create a platform that would automatically update games and include stronger anti-piracy and anti-cheat features. They asked several companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo!, and RealNetworks, to help build a client with these features, but all companies refused.
Valve started developing its own platform in 2002, using the names "Grid" and "Gazelle." The Steam platform was announced at the Game Developers Conference on March 22, 2002, and released for beta testing the same day. Before Steam was created, Valve had a publishing contract with Sierra Studios. The 2001 version of this contract allowed Valve to distribute its games digitally. In 2002, Valve took Sierra and Vivendi Games, the company that owned Sierra, to court, claiming they broke the contract. Sierra responded by suing Valve, saying that Valve had broken the contract by creating a digital storefront to sell Sierra’s games directly.
Steam officially left beta testing on September 12, 2003. In November 2004, Half-Life 2 became the first major game sold digitally on Steam. Retail copies of the game required users to install the Steam client to play. At this time, users faced problems because of legal issues between Valve and Vivendi. Vivendi claimed that physical copies of its games could not be activated on Steam until the games were officially released. Users also had concerns about software ownership and faced issues with overloaded servers, similar to problems during the Counter-Strike launch.
In 2005, third-party developers began releasing games on Steam, including Rag Doll Kung Fu and Darwinia. In May 2007, ATI included Steam in its Catalyst GPU driver and gave free Steam copies of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch to owners of ATI Radeon graphics cards.
In January 2008, Nvidia added Steam to its GeForce GPU driver and gave free Steam copies of Portal: The First Slice to owners of Nvidia hardware. In 2011, some Electronic Arts games, such as Crysis 2, Dragon Age II, and Alice: Madness Returns, were removed from sale on Steam because the terms of service prevented the games from having their own in-game storefront for downloadable content. These games were later released on the Origin service.
In 2019, Ubisoft announced it would stop selling future games on Steam, starting with Tom Clancy's The Division 2, because Valve would not change its revenue-sharing model. In May 2019, Microsoft began distributing its games on Steam in addition to the Microsoft Store.
In 2020, Electronic Arts started selling some of its games on Steam and introduced its rebranded subscription service, EA Play, on the platform. In 2022, Ubisoft announced it would return to selling its recent games on Steam, starting with Assassin's Creed Valhalla, stating that the company was "constantly evaluating how to bring our games to different audiences wherever they are."
By 2014, Steam’s total annual game sales were estimated at $1.5 billion. By 2018, the service had over 90 million monthly active users. In 2018, Steam’s network delivered 15 billion gigabytes of data, compared to less than 4 billion gigabytes in 2014.
Features and functionality
Steam's main job is to let users buy games and other software. These items are stored in a virtual library where users can download and install them as many times as needed. At first, Valve was the only company that could publish games on Steam because it controlled Steam's database and tools. However, in May 2008, Valve released the Steamworks software development kit (SDK), which allowed other companies to add Steam features to their games without needing Valve's help directly.
Valve wanted to make digital rights management (DRM) unnecessary by using traditional anti-piracy methods in Steam games, such as product keys. In March 2009, Steamworks added a feature called "Custom Executable Generation" (CEG). This feature creates a unique, encrypted version of a game's files for each user. These files can be installed multiple times and on different devices, and users can make backup copies. To play the game, users must log into Steam to unlock the files. Normally, this happens while connected to the Internet. However, after logging in once, users can play games offline by using a special mode. Developers can choose to use other DRM methods or no DRM at all. For example, some Ubisoft games require the Uplay service instead of Steam.
In September 2008, Steam added a feature called Steam Cloud. This service stores saved game files and other data on Valve's servers. Users can access these files from any device with the Steam client. Users can turn off this feature for specific games or accounts. In January 2022, Steam Cloud was updated to allow saving game progress while playing, not just after closing the game. This change helped users who use the Steam Deck device, which can be put into a sleep mode. In May 2012, users could manage their game libraries from remote devices like computers or phones. Product keys sold by third-party stores can also be used on Steam. For games that use Steamworks, users can buy redemption codes from other sellers and add the game to their library through Steam. Steam also helps developers sell and distribute downloadable content (DLC) for games.
In September 2013, Steam allowed users to share most games with family members or close friends by authorizing other devices to access their library. These users can install the game locally and play it without the owner's account. They can access saved games and achievements unless the main owner is playing. If the main owner starts a game while a shared user is playing, the shared user has a few minutes to save their progress and close the game or buy the game for their own account. In January 2014, a feature called Family View let parents control settings for their children's accounts, limiting access to Steam and games. In September 2024, a new version called "Steam Families" allowed up to six users to share games from one account. This version lets users play different games on different accounts, keep separate game saves, and use stronger parental controls.
Valve's rules say they can block users from accessing their games or Steam services if Valve's Anti-Cheat (VAC) software detects cheating, selling accounts, or trading games to take advantage of price differences. At first, blocking users removed access to all their games, which caused some users to lose access to their games for small mistakes. Later, Valve changed the rules to be like Electronic Arts' Origin platform, where blocked users can still play games but only offline and cannot use Steam Community features. Users also lose access to their games and Steam account if they refuse to accept changes to Steam's user agreements. This happened in August 2012. In April 2015, developers could set their own bans for players, which Valve enforced on Steam. This helped developers manage their communities.
The Steam client includes a digital store called the Steam Store where users can buy games. Once a game is purchased, a license is added to the user's Steam account, allowing them to download the game on any compatible device. Licenses can be transferred to other accounts under certain conditions. Games are delivered from servers around the world using a special file transfer system. Games on Steam are sold in different currencies depending on the user's location. In December 2010, the Steam Store added support for WebMoney payments. From April 2016 to December 2017, Bitcoin was also accepted, but support was removed due to price changes and high fees. The Steam Store checks the user's region, and some games may only be available in specific areas because of release dates, game ratings, or publisher agreements. Since 2010, users have helped translate parts of Steam into different languages. In October 2018, official support for Vietnamese and Latin American Spanish was added to Steam's 26 languages. Steam also lets users buy downloadable content and in-game items for some games, like Team Fortress 2. In February 2015, Steam began allowing third-party games to offer in-game purchases. In November 2007, Steam added achievements, similar to those on the Xbox 360.
Valve works with developers and publishers to offer discounts on games daily and weekly. These sales sometimes focus on a specific publisher, genre, or holiday. Some games are free to try during these sales. Steam's annual Summer and Holiday sales often have many discounted games, and sometimes include fun activities to encourage purchases. Since 2016, Steam has held a Lunar New Year sale, which is a holiday celebrated in some Asian countries. This sale was sometimes skipped if it was too close to the Spring Sale.
Users on the Steam Store can buy games and software as gifts for other Steam users. Before May 2017, users could keep these gifts in their inventory until they chose to give them away. However, this led to problems where users in cheaper regions bought games to sell in more expensive regions. In August 2016, Valve changed its rules to require that games with anti-cheat features be gifted immediately. This also helped stop users from avoiding anti-cheat systems.
Storefront curation
Until 2012, Valve chose which games were added to Steam. They only included games supported by major developers or smaller studios with proven success. After 2012, Valve tried to let more games join Steam without manually approving them, except for checking if games work on the platforms listed by publishers. In 2017, a Steam team member named Alden Kroll said Valve understood Steam had a dominant position in selling PC games and wanted to avoid deciding which games were sold. However, they also recognized that too much control could lead to problems, like difficulty finding good games or low-quality games appearing on the service.
In July 2012, Valve introduced Steam Greenlight to help add games to the service. Steam users could vote on which games should be added. Developers could share details about their games, including early versions, and users could support them by voting. Valve would then add the most-supported games to Steam. However, during the first week, many users found it hard to find quality games because of too many false or inappropriate submissions. To fix this, Valve required developers to pay $100 to list a game on Steam, and these fees were donated to a charity called Child's Play. Some smaller developers worried about this cost, as they often work with limited funds. Later, Valve allowed developers to share ideas for future games for free, and votes for these ideas were only visible to the developers. They also let non-game software be voted onto Steam through Greenlight.
Many developers criticized Greenlight because few games were approved despite the system’s popularity. In January 2013, Valve’s leader, Gabe Newell, said the company wanted to reduce its role in Greenlight and instead create an open marketplace for games. To show this change, Valve approved 100 games on Greenlight’s first anniversary.
In June 2017, Valve launched Steam Direct after ending Greenlight. With Steam Direct, developers only needed to complete forms for identification and taxes, and pay a fee to publish games on Steam. After applying, developers had to wait 30 days for Valve to review their games to ensure they worked correctly, matched their descriptions, and did not contain harmful content. Valve said the fee would be between $100 and $5,000 to encourage quality submissions and reduce low-quality games. Smaller developers worried this might hurt them, so Valve set the fee at $100 and promised to improve discovery tools. If a game earned more than $1,000 in sales, Valve would refund the fee. Valve also approved most remaining Greenlight games, though some were not ready for release. They expected more games to join Steam with Direct. Some groups, like publisher Raw Fury and crowdfunding site Fig, offered to pay the fee for indie developers who could not afford it.
Without direct control over game selection, Valve focused on helping players find games based on their past purchases. Valve refused to use paid ads or special placement, which could create unfair advantages. Instead, they used algorithms and automatic tools to help users discover games.
In September 2014, Valve added the "Discovery Update," which let Steam users act as curators to recommend games and sort games by popularity or user preferences. This update helped increase Steam Storefront usage and sales by 18% in 2015. A second Discovery Update in November 2016 gave users more control over which games they saw and let developers customize their game listings.
By February 2017, Valve reported that the second Discovery Update increased the number of games shown on Steam’s front page by 42%, leading to more sales. In 2016, more games met Valve’s success metric of selling over $200,000 in their first 90 days. In December 2017, Valve added the "Curator Connect" program, allowing curators to share preferences like game types and languages, and developers to contact curators directly. This helped reduce key reselling and misuse of the system.
To address "fake games" (games using reused assets with little innovation), Valve added Steam Explorers. Any Steam user could join and review underperforming games, reporting if they were original or fake. Valve could then remove fake games.
In July 2019, Valve introduced Steam Labs to test new discovery features. One example was the Interactive Recommender, which used AI to suggest games based on a user’s past choices. These experiments later became official features.
The September 2019 Discovery Update aimed to help niche and lesser-known games gain visibility. However, some indie developers reported fewer exposures, including fewer wishlist additions and appearances in sections like "More Like This."
In September 2022, Steam Charts were introduced to track the most popular and best-selling games on Steam, including weekly and monthly data. Charts replaced an earlier statistics page.
Games and account policies
In June 2015, Valve introduced a formal process that allows players to request refunds for games they purchased. Refunds are guaranteed if the player has played the game for less than two hours within the first two weeks of purchase. Before June 2015, Valve did not allow refunds, except in specific cases like problems with digital rights management or false advertising.
Games that are no longer available for sale can still be downloaded and played by people who already purchased them.
When Steam Direct was launched, Valve stopped reviewing games before they were published on Steam. This change led to some games being released that tried to trick or upset Steam users. Starting in June 2018, Valve took action against games and developers it called "trolls," which it defined as not being interested in making or selling games in good faith. For example, Valve’s Doug Lombardi said the game Active Shooter was an example of trolling because it allowed players to take on the roles of a school shooter or a SWAT team member, which he believed could cause conflict. In September 2018, Valve removed about 170 games from Steam after clarifying its definition of trolling.
Valve also took steps to stop "fake games" that could harm the Steam trading card system or unfairly increase a user’s Steam level. Some changes to Steam caused problems for legitimate games, like Wandersong, which was flagged in January 2019 for having mostly positive reviews.
Valve has removed games that break its rules, such as copying game assets, manipulating reviews, misusing Steam tools, or acting aggressively toward Steam users.
Since 2022, Valve has banned games that use blockchain-related technologies, like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), because of concerns about their markets. In 2023, Valve allowed games using generative artificial intelligence (AI) to be sold on Steam, but warned developers to ensure they had the rights to the AI-generated content. By January 2024, Valve required games using AI to explain this on their store pages and confirm they avoided illegal content. In February 2025, Valve banned games that included paid advertising as part of gameplay.
Valve has removed or threatened to remove games with inappropriate or mature content, though there was confusion about what counted as inappropriate. For example, House Party by Eek Games was removed after it included scenes of nudity and sexual encounters, but the game was later allowed back on Steam with censorship bars. In 2018, Valve asked developers of anime-style games like HuniePop to address sexual content, but later allowed these games to stay.
In June 2018, Valve updated its content policy to let developers decide what mature content (like violence, nudity, or sexual content) their games include, rather than making those decisions itself. Players can block games with mature content from appearing in the store, and developers are encouraged to describe their game’s content clearly. Valve also promised to create tools to help developers handle controversies.
Until these tools were ready, some adult-themed games were delayed. Negligee: Love Stories was one of the first sexually explicit games offered after the tools were added in September 2018. The game’s developers limited its sale in over 20 regions to avoid legal issues. Valve has banned games where characters appear to be underage, even if the story says they are adults.
In March 2019, Valve refused to host Rape Day, a game where players control a serial rapist in a zombie apocalypse, because of the risks and controversy it might cause.
In December 2020, Valve blocked games with "Adults Only 18+" content in Germany after a complaint from a media authority. In November 2024, the Anti-Defamation League accused Valve of allowing hate and anti-Semitic content on Steam, citing over 40,000 user groups with extreme views. Senator Mark Warner later asked Valve to review its policies.
In July 2025, Valve updated its rules to remove games that might violate the standards of payment processors, banks, or internet providers. This change led to about 400 mature-rated games being removed from Steam. Valve confirmed this decision was made to follow these standards.
Platforms, devices and regions
Valve created the Steam Hardware Survey in 2003 before releasing Half-Life 2. At that time, no data existed about the types of computer hardware gamers used, so Valve used the survey to collect this information automatically through the Steam client with users’ permission. This helped Valve set hardware requirements for Half-Life 2 to ensure the game would work on as many systems as possible. Since then, Valve has continued using the survey to share hardware data with other game developers. This helps developers understand current market trends and decide when to stop supporting older hardware or software.
Steam was first released only for Microsoft Windows in 2003 but later became available on other platforms. Recent versions of the Steam client use the Chromium Embedded Framework. To support new features, Steam now uses 64-bit versions of Chromium, which means it no longer works on older operating systems like Windows XP and Windows Vista. Steam also requires security features found in newer Windows versions. Support for XP and Vista ended in 2019. Users still on those systems can use the Steam client, but they cannot access newer features. About 0.2% of Steam users were affected by this change when it began. In March 2023, Valve announced that Steam would stop supporting Windows 7 and 8 on January 1, 2024.
Valve introduced a Steam client for macOS in March 2010. Before this, the Steam beta client was updated to use the cross-platform WebKit browser engine instead of the Internet Explorer engine. Valve shared images of Valve game characters with Apple logos and parodies of old Mac advertisements to tease the macOS client. A video inspired by Apple’s 1984 Macintosh commercial was used to announce Half-Life 2 on Steam for macOS.
Steam for macOS was originally planned for April 2010 but was delayed until May 12, 2010. Developers could use the Steam client to take advantage of the cross-platform Source engine and Steamworks features. The macOS client allows players who bought compatible games on Windows to download Mac versions for free. Steam Cloud and many multiplayer games also support cross-platform play.
When Apple stopped supporting Intel-based Macs after releasing macOS Tahoe in late 2025, Valve updated the Steam beta client to support Apple’s new silicon chips without needing emulation software like Rosetta 2.
In July 2012, Valve announced a Steam client for Linux based on the Ubuntu operating system. This followed months of speculation, especially after Phoronix discovered Linux-related code in recent Steam builds. Gabe Newell, Valve’s founder, said supporting Linux was important to keep the PC platform open and avoid the closed nature of Windows 8. Valve helped developers bring their games to Linux by making the process as simple as possible.
The Linux client team worked for a year before the announcement to prove the port was possible. By the time of the official release, a nearly complete Steam client for Linux was ready and tested on Ubuntu. Internal testing began in October 2012, and external testing started in November. Open beta versions were released in December 2012, and the official client launched in February 2013. Valve’s Linux team promised that Left 4 Dead 2 would run smoothly on Linux and connect with Windows and Mac versions. By 2014, over 500 Linux-compatible games were available on Steam, and by 2019, there were 5,800 native Linux games.
In August 2018, Valve released a beta version of Proton (later called Steam Play), an open-source tool that lets Linux users run Windows games directly through Steam. Proton includes tools like Wine and DXVK. It also supports Steam-compatible controllers, even those not working on Windows. The Steam Deck, Valve’s handheld computer released in 2022, runs SteamOS 3.0 based on Arch Linux and uses Proton to play Windows games. Before the Steam Deck’s release, Valve worked with anti-cheat developers like Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye to ensure their tools worked with Proton. Valve also created a system to rate how well games perform on the Steam Deck.
Proton added support for Nvidia’s DLSS technology in June 2021, but this feature is not available on the Steam Deck, which uses AMD hardware.
In March 2022, Google offered a prerelease version of Steam for Chromebooks, which entered public beta in November 2022. Google announced it would stop supporting Steam on Chromebooks in 2026.
At E3 2010, Gabe Newell announced that Steamworks would be available on the PlayStation 3 with Portal 2. Steamworks, which includes cross-platform play, instant messaging, and Steam Cloud, debuted on the PS3 with Portal 2. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive also supports Steamworks on the PS3, allowing players to use keyboard and mouse controls. Valve hoped to expand Steamworks features in future content.
Newell said Valve wanted to bring Steam to the Xbox 360 through Counter-Strike: Global Offensive but could not include cross-platform play in the final version. Valve attributed this to Microsoft’s rules requiring all new content for Xbox 360 to be certified before release, which limited Steamworks’ usefulness.
Valve released official Steam apps for iOS and Android in late January 2012 after a short beta period. These apps let users log into their accounts, browse the game store, and manage their games.
Reception and impact
Steam's success has led to some criticism for supporting DRM and for being an effective monopoly. In 2012, Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, called DRM using Steam on Linux "unethical," but still better than Windows.
Steam's customer service has been highly criticized, with users citing poor response times or lack of response. In March 2015, Valve received a failing "F" grade from the Better Business Bureau due to many complaints about how Valve handled Steam. Erik Johnson of Valve said, "we don't feel like our customer service support is where it needs to be right now." Johnson stated the company planned to improve customer support features in the Steam client and be more responsive. In May 2017, Valve hired more customer service staff and shared information about the number and type of customer service requests it handled over the last 90 days. On average, 75,000 requests were received each day. Refund requests were the largest group, and Valve could resolve most within hours. Account security and recovery requests followed. Valve said 98% of all service requests were processed within 24 hours of being filed.
In August 2011, Valve said Steam's revenue, estimated to be $1 billion in 2010, was similar to the revenue from its published games. Gabe Newell said the company was "tremendously profitable," more profitable per employee than companies like Google or Apple. By the end of 2015, Steam had 125 million active accounts. By August 2017, Valve reported 27 million new active accounts since January 2016, bringing the total to at least 150 million. Most accounts were from North America and Western Europe, with significant growth in accounts from Asia around 2017. This growth was helped by efforts to localize the Steam client and offer more currency options. In September 2014, 1.4 million accounts belonged to Australian users; this number grew to 2.2 million by October 2015.
Valve considers concurrent users—how many accounts are logged in at the same time—a key indicator of Steam's success. In August 2017, Valve reported a peak of 14 million concurrent players, up from 8.4 million in 2015. Daily active users reached 33 million, and monthly active users reached 67 million. By January 2018, the peak online count reached 18.5 million, with over 47 million daily active users. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when many people were at home, Steam saw over 23 million concurrent players in March. Some games also reached record-breaking concurrent counts. By December 2024, the peak concurrent user count reached 39.2 million, partly due to the release of Marvel Rivals and Path of Exile 2. By February 2025, the peak reached 40 million with the release of Monster Hunter Wilds.
In October 2025, Steam reached a new all-time concurrent user peak of 41.6 million, surpassing its previous record by over a million. This increase was largely due to the release of Battlefield 6. An analysis by Alinea Analytics estimated that Steam earned $16.3 billion in revenue during the first 11 months of 2025.
Steam has grown from seven games in 2004 to over 30,000 by 2019, with additional non-gaming products like creation software, DLC, and videos numbering over 20,000. More than 50,000 games were on the service as of February 2021. The growth of games on Steam is due to changes in Valve's curation approach, which allows publishers to add games without direct involvement from Valve. The addition of Greenlight and Direct increased the number of games on Steam. Before Greenlight, Valve saw about five new games published each week. Greenlight expanded this to about 70, and Direct increased it to 180 per week by 2017.
Although Steam provides direct sales data to developers and publishers, it does not share public sales data. In 2011, Jason Holtman of Valve said the company believed such data was outdated for a digital market. Data that Valve provides cannot be released without permission because of a non-disclosure agreement.
Developers and publishers have asked for sales metrics to help judge a game's potential success. Algorithms that used publicly available data from user profiles to estimate sales led to the creation of the website Steam Spy in 2015. Steam Spy was reasonably accurate, but in April 2018, Valve added new privacy settings that hid user game profiles by default. This change broke Steam Spy's data collection method. A new method using game achievements to estimate sales was developed, but Valve later changed the Steam API, reducing its functionality. Some people claimed Valve used the GDPR change to block sales estimation methods, but Valve promised to provide tools for developers to gain more accurate insights. In 2020, Simon Carless revised a method originally proposed by Mike Boxleiter in 2013. Carless's approach estimated sales based on the number of reviews on Steam, using a modified "Boxleiter number" as a multiplication factor.
The accessibility of publishing games on digital storefronts like Steam has been described as key to the popularity of indie games. These processes allow developers to publish games on Steam with minimal oversight from Valve. Journalists have criticized Valve for lacking curation policies that make it hard to find quality games among poorly made ones, sometimes called "shovelware."
Following the launch of Steam Direct, the video game industry was divided on Valve's hands-off approach. Some praised Valve for avoiding moral judgments about content and letting consumers decide what they want to see. Others worried that this might encourage developers to publish games with harmful content, and that user-filters and algorithms might not block undesirable material. Some critics also said Valve's decision was driven by financial gain, as Valve earns