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Valve Software, creators popular game franchises and leading digital distribution of video games, this week announced the first non-games software titles have launched via Steam, marking a major expansion to the platform. Valve has to quickly expand its non-game offerings on Steam to compete against Windows Store.
The software titles now available via Steam are: ArtRage Studio Pro, CameraBag 2, GameMaker: Studio, 3D-Coat, 3DMark Vantage and 3DMark 11. Many of the launch titles will take advantage of popular Steamworks features, such as easy installation, automatic updating, and the ability to save one's work to personal Steam Cloud space so files could travel with their owners. GameMaker Studio, for example, features integration with Steam Workshop that allows GameMaker users to share their work via Steam.
In a bid to make Steam store popular among users of non-game programs, Valve needs to compete directly against Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Store system integrated into Windows 8 and will have thousands of programs. Therefore, Valve has to quickly expand the number of offerings in the steam store, otherwise Steam will continue to be a video game-store only.
Earlier this year Valve announced that the software titles coming to Steam range from creativity to productivity. Unfortunately, six apps are simply not enough.
To celebrate the launch, all Software titles on Steam will be available for 10% off their regular price throughout the week.
Tags: Valve Software, Steam, Windows, Windows 8, Valve, Microsoft, Linux, Apple, Mac OS
