New Features Advance Leading Game Platform

February 23, 2010 -- Valve announces a new version of Steam which is immediately available in public beta.

In the last 12 months, Steam has grown 200%. There are now 25 million users, 1000+ games, 12 billion player minutes per month, and 75 billion Steam client minutes per month. To accommodate this growth, a new Steam client has been created.

This opt-in beta is available immediately to all Steam users. If users already have Steam installed on their computer, they can take part in the beta by clicking this link and then selecting "UI Update" under Beta Participation. If they don't have Steam installed, they can download it here. To preview the new Steam client without taking part in the beta, a complete rundown of the new features is available here.

Increasingly, the most effective way of reaching new gamers is through the existing players of a game. With the new Steam release, gamers will now be able to see which games their friends have purchased directly within the Steam storefront. 25 million gamers create a highly effective and knowledgeable source of purchase suggestions.

News outlets now have the ability to reach the Steam community through the new client's News aggregator functionality. Those organizations interested can contact Doug Lombardi at [url=lombardi@valvesoftware.com]lombardi@valvesoftware.com[/url].

With users purchasing more and more games through Steam, new methods of library management were needed. The new client introduces library customization tools to help gamers sort, group, and find games in libraries which for some hardcore players contain hundreds of titles. In addition to having lots of games, gamers needed methods of tracking all of their achievements in a standardized cross-game fashion, which is now possible with the new release.

"We made hundreds of changes to the Steam client as a result of customer feedback on the interface, performance, and functionality," said John Cook, Director of Steam Development at Valve. "For example, we swapped out the Internet Explorer rendering engine with WebKit, which gives us a bunch of size, stability and performance benefits. This release of Steam leaves us well prepared for another year of strong growth."

About Steam
The leading online platform for PC games and digital entertainment, Steam delivers new releases and online services to over 25 million PC users around the world. For more information, please visit steamgames.com.

About Valve
Valve is an entertainment software and technology company founded in 1996 and based in Bellevue, Washington. For more information, please visit valvesoftware.com.

Steam Client UI Update to Release on Monday
After two months in beta and over twenty updates, the Steam Client UI Update is slated to release to all Steam users this coming Monday, April 26th.

We'd like to extend our thanks to all of you who've taken part in improving Steam by participating in the 2010 Steam UI Update beta. You've put the beta through its paces and provided great ideas and feedback.

The beta has been a huge success. The number of you who participated exceeded all our expectations, and so far you've created 25 thousand posts to the beta user forums. As a result of your participation, the Steam team has had the feedback required to make the new Steam client more reliable and useful than ever.

For those of you who've yet to join the beta, it's not too late! By participating now, you'll be updating your system to include our most recent developments. You'll also minimize the amount of content required to download later, once the released version becomes available. And last but not least, you'll be experiencing the future of Steam now, including dozens of new features, bug fixes and general improvements.

Regardless of whether you've chosen to opt into the beta, keep your eye out for the Steam client update on Monday, April 26th, when a brand new Steam is headed your way.