What is Steam?

Steam has become synonymous with PC gaming, and is a great alternative to buying games on physical discs. Released in 2003, the Steam platform is a digital distribution service, directed at those who buy and play computer games. As well as providing the platform itself, Valve Corporation who founded the platform, offer their own games through it.

Steam is basically an online shop, combined with a social gaming community. It is a central hub for gamers where any PC or Mac user can log in and purchase games or add-ons, as well as keep up to date with the gaming world through a sophisticated social network.

Creating an account

When creating an account with steam, users can insert their payment details securely and buy games from the library of over 3,000 titles. Also, users can log in using a Facebook account and manage their friends, who are also users on the network.

Once in the account, gamers can manage their library and install games at any time. Furthermore, Steam allows gamers to keep the game safe, by allowing them to back up their games onto different cloud storage.

Features

A great feature of Steam is the ability to set up achievements and leaderboards, encouraging gamers to devote more time and dedication to the game. Another popular feature is the in-game chat facility, allowing players to communicate during the game and discuss strategies before, during and after the game mechanics.

The Steam community is incredibly popular within the PC gaming niche, and is a great platform for gamers to socialize, chat about gaming topics and generally share experiences.

Conclusion

Evidently, Steam has been highly successful, both commercially and from a social point of view. The platform itself provides a great service to gamers, by creating a platform for purchasing games, setting up leaderboards, achievements and giving gamers a social community to share experiences.