![]() The platform also offers a small selection of other content, including design software, hardware, game soundtracks, anime, and films. The Steam platform is the largest digital distribution platform for PC gaming, holding around 75% of the market share in 2013. Brick rigs steam workshop Pc#īy 2017, users purchasing games through Steam totaled roughly US$4.3 billion, representing at least 18% of global PC game sales. By 2019, the service had over 34,000 games with over 95 million monthly active users. ![]() History Timeline of release events 2002įilm/TV purchases/renting added to catalog The success of Steam has led to the development of a line of Steam Machine microconsoles, which include the SteamOS operating system and Steam Controllers, Steam Link devices for local game streaming, and the upcoming Steam Deck, a handheld personal computer system tailored for running Steam games. Valve had entered into a publishing contract with Sierra Studios in 1997 ahead of the 1998 release of Half-Life. The contract had given some intellectual property (IP) rights to Sierra in addition to publishing control. Valve published additional games through Sierra, including expansions for Half-Life and Counter-Strike. Around 1999, as Valve started work on Half-Life 2 and the new Source engine, they became concerned about their contract with Sierra related to the IP rights, and the two companies renegotiated a new contract by 2001. The new contract eliminated Sierra's IP rights and gave Valve rights to digital distribution of its games. Īround this time, Valve had problems updating the published games. They could provide downloadable patches, but for multiplayer games, new patches would result in most of the online user base disconnecting for several days until everyone had implemented the patch. Valve decided to create a platform that would update games automatically and implement stronger anti-piracy and anti-cheat measures. Through user polls at the time of its announcement in 2002, Valve also recognized that at least 75% of their users had access to high-speed Internet connections, which would continue to grow with planned broadband expansion in the following years, and recognized that they could deliver game content faster to players than through retail channels. ![]()
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