Steam

is distribution platform, created to kick-start the digital distribution era for games. Steam allows users to easily purchase, download, play and update games online. It also helps developers by allowing them to break out of the innovation-crushing "retail and publisher" distribution model and offering them huge improvements to their profit margins and creative freedom.
Steam client is currently available for , and . A mobile version of Steam is also available for and /.
Steam makes it easy to update games & software automatically just like other similar software. Steam isn't the first software to do this, but it's become popular worldwide for gaming. Users had to visit separate websites that used to have their own steps and installers.
Originally, Steam, at the time of it's release, it only offered Valve games, or some games that use Valve IPs. This was later changed in 2005, when Steam starts to offers games from various third-party developers, whether they use Valve's engines, IPs or not.
== Steam Input API ==
Steam Input API (previously known as Steam Controller API), allows player to control the game using any third-party controllers (or non-Xbox controllers) such as DualShock 4, DualSense (PS5), Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, and more. With Steam Input API, it means that when Steam adds more supported input devices or methods to the Steam Input layer, games will automatically support those new devices and methods without any additional development time required by the game developers. All buttons can be customizable on the Steam client itself.
Additionally, Steam Input also provide a wrapper to add support for non-Xbox controller on older games that uses XInput/DirectInput (example: or earlier), or emulate as keyboard & mouse to controlling games that does not have controller support.
=== List of Games with Steam Input API ===
This is the list of , and games that support Steam Input API:
; Valve
* 
* 
* 
* 
* (since 25th Anniversary)
* (since 2022)
** 
** 
** 
* (since 2022)
* 
* 
* 
; Third-party
* 
* 
== Updates ==
Steam added PayPal as a payment option on 22 November 2006.
Steam Community and Achievements support was added in 2007. Around that time, Windows 98 and ME support has been dropped.
Steam added support in May 12, 2010.
In 2012, Steam Greenlight was launched, allowing indie and small developers to publishing games on Steam and let users vote if the game was good enough to be published on Steam Store.
Steam added support in February 14, 2013. Around that same year, Steam dropped support for Windows 2000, and games were being transferred to the new SteamPipe system around this time, which allow developers to publish new game updates without requiring Valve approvals, and to make most older games easier to mod while keeping the original game files intact (see ).
 was launched in 2015, SteamOS is a -based distribution which was preinstalled with Steam. Since 2022, it is currently being used in , but previous versions are available for Steam Machines and other PCs.
Steam Direct was launched in 2017, which replaced Steam Greenlight.
Steam dropped support for Windows XP and Vista in Jan 1, 2019.
Custom Steam skins are no longer supported on June 15, 2023 as the entire VGUI has been replaced by Chromium Embedded Framework (CEF).
In Jan 1, 2024, Steam no longer supports Windows 7 through 8.1, these systems later stop receiving latest Steam updates after November 2024. Latest version compatible with Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 is available here.
In February 15, 2024, Steam dropped support for Mojave 10.14 or earlier. This also meant that all 32-bit games are no longer supported on all Macs after macOS Catalina (10.15).
== Limitations/Bugs ==
== Steam Status & Statistics ==
* Steam Charts - Player Stats, Top Sellers, Most Played Games
* Steam Hardware & Software Survey
* Content Server Status
* Customer Support Status
* Unofficial Steam Status (by )
For more information on Steam and how to get it, visit the official About page of Steam. To launch Steam, .
== Install scripts ==
== Games, mods, DLCs and Workshop items ==
== System Requirements ==
== See also ==
* SteamCMD
* SteamPipe
* :Category:Steam
== External links ==
* Steam Store Homepage
* About page (Download Steam)
* Steam Community Homepage
* Steam Community Discussions
Category:SteamCategory:Valve