On Steam, “asset flip” refers to a game that’s haphazardly assembled from pre-purchased environments, objects, and sound effects for the purpose of making a quick buck. Or at least that’s what it’s supposed to refer to. Over time, the definition of “asset flip” seems to have devolved into “anything that ever uses a…
Last year, Valve put limitations on Steam trading cards to stop sketchy developers from makinge a living leeching money from the user-powered trading card economy. Now it’s doing something similar with Steam achievements.
The North American open qualifiers for the 2018 Dota 2 International were off to the races yesterday, with dozens of games being played to determine who would take a regional spot. And then along came a patch containing Dota 2's new battle royale mode, and everything fell apart.
Valve just announced Steam China. The goal is to introduce more games to China, though how that will work isn’t clear yet. In recent times, Steam has added some popular Chinese games. However, Chinese players have become Steam users’ go-to object of borderline-xenophobic rage thanks to cheating issues.
Yesterday, Valve announced a sweeping new policy for Steam: From now on, the platform will allow “everything” except for games Valve decides are “illegal, or straight up trolling.” In light of controversies like the recently removed school shooter game Active Shooter, the announcement came as a surprise to those who…
In recent times, Valve has struggled to draw a line in terms of what’s allowed on Steam. Controversy has raged over the removal of games with explicit sexual content as well as objectionable themes like the glorification of school shooters. In response to all of this, Valve has decided to open the floodgates even…
Earlier this month, Valve announced an official Steam Link app that lets users play Steam games on their phones. Last week, the app came out on Android, with an iOS version nowhere to be found. Now Valve has explained why.
Last year’s Dota 2 Battle Pass had a reward for anyone reaching level 2000: a physical statue of Baby Roshan. Those pieces are now finally reaching mailboxes, and they’re so bad that Valve has had to apologise and announce that a new version will be made and sent out in its place.
Steam reviews have a reputation for being whiny garbage, but they can still be really useful when the trash is filtered out and some serious data extracted. Which is exactly what this in-depth study of the service has found.
At this rate, Civilization VI will have one by the end of the year.
The most recent Dota 2 patch landed right on top of the currently ongoing Epicenter XL major. A big shift in gameplay riled up some folks in the community, and now, Valve is adjusting the way it will release future updates.
Steam Spy, the PC gaming sales-tracking mainstay loved by some developers and loathed by others, was recently presumed dead by its creator, Sergey Galyonkin, after an update to Steam’s privacy defaults. It is now coming back, but it’ll be different.
Who would win in a fight between Overwatch and Team Fortress 2? It’s kind of a tired question at this point, but The Winglet used it as the foundation for a charming and funny SFM video that pokes fun at both games. The scene that depicts an encounter with Mei as a horror movie is especially inspired. Also, accurate.
Loot boxes in FIFA 18, Overwatch, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive are now illegal in Belgium, with the country’s legislators declaring today that if the games’ publishers don’t remove the offending microtransactions, people behind the games could face fines and even time behind bars.
Independent studio Campo Santo (Firewatch) has been acquired by a most unlikely suitor—Valve, a digital store operator that once made video games. Three people familiar with the news confirmed the purchase to Kotaku today.
Game developer Nikita P. mostly made visual novel Bustories, a game about meeting travel companions for the first and last time, in his spare time. Still, he was eager to see the fruits of his year-long labor on Steam and, hopefully, make some money for his efforts. One problem: no one could buy his game.
Today, Valve added new privacy options that let Steam users decide how they’re viewed by the community. One big side effect: people’s game libraries are now hidden by default, spelling the likely end of data-tracking monolith Steam Spy.
Steam Spy has put together an interesting collection of stats and figures on Steam’s 2017, showing everything from the biggest games to the fate of indie sales.
