Valve has taken a further step forward to bring Steam to Linux and especially to the living room. To make this happen, the company announced SteamOS, a proprietary operating system built around the Linux world that will bring its popular front-end store gaming and entertainment software to living room computers, allowing Valve to indirectly enter the home console gaming market.
It is a surprising move aimed at challenging Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. SteamOS is a real operating system will therefore have to replace Windows, Mac OS, and Linux distros that support traditional Steam today.
At the last LinuxCon event, Gabe Newell, CEO of Valve said he wants to make Linux the major system for video games. It is not yet ready for distribution but will be provided to the users in a totally free – and forever version, said Newell. If Valve can rationalize community support for the SteamOS, it could loosen the market share that Microsoft and other console makers have on hardcore game fans in the living room.
“With SteamOS, ‘openness’ means that the hardware industry can iterate in the living room at a much faster pace than they’ve been able to,” Valve said. “Content creators can connect directly to their customers. Users can alter or replace any part of the software or hardware they want. Gamers are empowered to join in the creation of the games they love. SteamOS will continue to evolve, but will remain an environment designed to foster these kinds of innovation.”
Attack on the industry giant
The basic features of SteamOS include compatibility in native mode with hundreds of Steam games, with the workshop, with cloud services and the chance to make friends with a network of contacts which currently has over 50 million users. Steam supports Linux for several months, but the availability of licenses for that platform is currently limited. It is inevitable, however, that with SteamOS migration to Linux will grow stronger.
The new operating system from Valve supports a type of streaming home that will allow you to use your Mac or Windows PC to deliver content to the device connected to the SteamOS TV.
On the other hand, Valve wants to integrate other media and entertainment like music, movies and series into the platform. Steam is now active in 185 countries, translated into 25 languages and has 50 million users and 3,000 available titles.
Microsoft’s stubborn approach to open its own gaming store in Windows 8 platform angered Valve last year. Valve already had a good mix of store for games with Steam, running on the Windows PC. Gabe Newell, the managing director at Valve, called that move a “catastrophe” for openness in games.
And as a result, Valve started moving away from Windows platform. It began in 2010 with the arrival of Steam on the Mac, and was accelerated with the announcement of porting the platform and Valve Source Engine on Linux last year. As a highlight, Newell announced last week the availability of 200 games on Steam created by Linus Torvalds operating system.
Complete ecosystem
The remaining question: What system will run SteamOS? Valve said they have two other announcement coming soon. Presumably, the next will be the Steam Box, a new console based on PC hardware and the Linux operating system.
Until now, the Linux industry has largely ignored, partly because it was difficult to ensure the functioning of the various Linux games distributions available. Providing a console platform specifically for the Games operation could change that. It is also rumor that the Steam Box is designed not so much as a closed hardware platform, but rather as a blueprint for other manufacturers who want to make themselves a SteamOS device in the living room of the users.
The company is also negotiating with companies and services that provide media for integration into the operating system. Hence, its intentions go to expand the possibilities of SteamOS and be able to offer music, TV shows and movies to its users. It has also released a new feature called Family Sharing, which allows Steam users to share a game with members of their own family, using multiple accounts.
It’s still not clear on the exact date on which SteamOS be available for download, as well as all the features and functions that will available at the time of its release. But the ambition of Valve with SteamOS is clear. The company will focus on gaming, entertainment including movies and music with the SteamOS–just like Microsoft is building on its new Xbox One, Windows 8 and gaming store.