Valve May Bring Steam to Mobile Platforms

News
By Kevin Parrish
published

Valve Software is looking into Steam on mobile devices.

Now that Valve Software has infiltrated the PlayStation 3 space with its proprietary Steamworks suite, the Portal 2 developer is now setting its sights on the mobile sector. The company admits that it's rather late in the game, but a mobile Steam client could become more of a possibility if the requests keep rolling in.

"We do feel we're late on mobile across many of Valve's services," said Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi. "It is something we're starting to look at now. People are starting to ask us for it. The more requests we receive, the more we feel the need to act on them."

Jason Holtman, Valve's director of business development and legal affairs, also chimed in with his take on the situation. "Mobile is really interesting," he said. "If you're making games, you have to be thinking about having a platform in this space. But it's too early to say anything definitive."

There are already several game "networks" established in the mobile sector including OpenFeint, Plus+, Crystal, Scorel∞p, Geocade, and agon. Gameloft has its own social gaming platform called Gameloft Live, and as we saw with the launch of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft has brought its coveted Xbox LIVE service into the mobile sector, offering cross-platform gaming between the smartphone, Windows PC and Xbox 360.

Valve bossman Gabe Newell nuked previous rumors that the company was bringing its Source engine to mobile devices, saying that there are no plans whatsoever. In fact, he told game developers to seek out Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney and use his Unreal Engine 3. "On mobile we’ve done nothing," Newel admitted, echoing a similar, seemingly critical statement provided by Valve project manager Erik Johnson.

While it appears that Valve has no intentions of developing a version of Source for mobile platforms, at least the company seems to be taking an interest in the mobile sector as a whole. Will a mobile Steam turn into an app store? For the Android platform, it's possible. But if anything, Valve could develop a mobile Steam network similar to the current social mobile platforms, linking iOS, Android and WP7 friends together to share trophies, messages and more.

Kevin Parrish
43 Comments Comment from the forums
  • NapoleonDK
    Bring it.
    Reply
  • joex444
    Can we do Linux first?
    Reply
  • joytech22
    Good, bring some decent games to Android for once!
    I'm not saying all the games on Android are bad, I'm saying there's a lack of good ones.
    Reply
  • DRM DRM DRM, how long are the majority of people going to be blind idiots and let this crap continue! STEAM = DRM = BAD
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    Steam = DRM that does NOT interfere with gameplay or seem to have ANY downsides.

    This is not securom and other stuff(shame the steam bioshocks came with securom.).

    Steam has yet to give me an issue with its DRM system.
    Reply
  • bustapr
    Steam DRM is the good DRM, the one that hackers hate and the one that makes your life easy.

    I think this is worse news for PC Gamers who want more good quality valve games.
    Reply
  • Nope, not for me, Steam is a no-go in my books!
    Reply
  • proxy711
    moriconNope, not for me, Steam is a no-go in my books!May i ask why?

    Really give me one good reason why steam is bad? Then ill tell you your logic is completely off and you're uninformed/inexperienced with steam....wait on second thought just just skip that whole conversation.

    Steam is one of few good guys in PC gaming today.
    Reply
  • zkevwlu
    IddaDRM DRM DRM, how long are the majority of people going to be blind idiots and let this crap continue! STEAM = DRM = BAD
    And Steam's DRM is bad why? Please give me one sensible and practical reason as to why Steam's DRM has caused you any sort of inconvenience.
    Reply
  • schmich
    Proxy711May i ask why?I'm a different guy I'm not buying from Steam again either. The first and only time I tried buying on Steam was BF:BC2 Vietnam expansion. I had bought the original version on retail. I lookup on official forums and all to see if I could buy Steam version of BC2 Vietnam when I had a retail BC2, answer: yes. Basically Vietnam is just a CD-Key that you add to the EA account, not even a DVD or a new game. You download the content and start-up the same game.

    On the BC2 Vietnam Steam page there was no info about having to own a Steam version of the original either so I went ahead and "pre-ordered". When Vietnam went live I couldn't find where to get the CD-key. I spend hours trying to figure it out and in the end DICE wrote an official post about Valve screwing up and not putting any limitation on BC2 Vietnam to only make it available if you have the Steam version of BC2. It also stated that if you're one of the few ones who pre-ordered before the limitation was put up to contact Valve.

    So I did contact Steam support. First reply was the stupid copy paste response on how to start up a game even though I specifically wrote in the message that I don't want to do that, I need the CD-key. I explained to read my first post and so on...posts went back and forth. In short, due to Steam's error I got the option of...get a refund or buy BC2, again, but on Steam (and I guess get a new account going so I have to juggle sign between the two account when I change between original and Vietnam - since i already have a "soldier" that I had ranked up a lot). I had asked if they could just send the CD-key to my verified email address but they just ignored it, didn't even say that it couldn't be done.

    When it's your customer's first purchase and you've made a mistake making the customer not get the proper service they should get, in my opinion, you grant them some type of price reduction, extra service or simply some type of gift. Just giving the absolute minimum that is required by law (i.e. a refund) is not enough. This doesn't make a customer return to your business.

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    I did eye on Portal 2. I checked prices on Steam as well as the gaming stores in my country. Steam with its own game, no middle man to pay with their online service, no packaging to pay (just bandwidth) managed to make the game MORE expensive there than ordering a physical copy at a game store WITH shipping. How can Steam not be cheaper? -.-

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    Lastly the fact that they can block your WHOLE account for something you did whilst playing ONE game is scary. Then I've heard about developers not liking how Steam is and how they have a monopoly on the digital market. I used to love Valve but it seems they're getting too big and cocky. Oh, I also like how they've messed up CS 1.6. I'm not sure if it's fixed but some eastern Europe country highjacked the server list so you can't play the game. The things like mouse acceleration is impossible to remove without a registry tweak. I don't mind not receiving any updates but not keeping a game playable (that you still sell!!) is frankly not acceptable.
    Reply