Tag Archives: valve

Since launch, Artifact has slowly been dwindling and Valve has been suspiciously quiet when it comes to future plans and updates. Over the weekend, Valve finally spoke up, admitting that there are “deep-rooted issues” that need resolving. On launch day, Artifact brought in around 60,000 players but that quickly began …

It looks like the leaks were real. Today, Valve showed off its own VR headset for the first time, with a launch heading our way very soon.

Epic Games has taken to a GDC 2019 Q&A to reveal that it will stop with its controversial year-long exclusivity deals in the future, after poor reception to its efforts with Metro Exodus and a number of other titles locked to its Store. CEO Tim Sweeney has also assured fans …

As far back as 2013, we have been hearing about Valve's plans for a Steam UI overhaul. There have even been multiple leaks of what the new library screen might look like. Now this year at GDC, Valve is finally going forward with its plans, showing off the newly spruced up version of Steam for the first time.

Last week, we learned that X-COM creator Julian Gollop’s Phoenix Point was set to launch on the Epic Games Store for its first year despite promising keys for Steam during its crowdfunding campaign. The platform has netted itself another round of exclusives as Control, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey and The …

Last week was capped off by news that the Epic Games Launcher apparently taps into Steam user data and specific Steam files found on the user's home PC. While Epic Games has responded, specifically noting that there is an ‘import friends' option, accusations of snooping on games owned, time played …

Review bombing has grown in prominence over the years, giving players a much louder voice when issues arise. Unfortunately for developers, the complaints are not always relevant to the game itself, but controversies that breach outside of end product. Valve has taken these concerns into account and is now overhauling …

Last year, Valve retired its Steam Link hardware and shifted focus to a software app, allowing users to enjoy the benefits of Steam in-home streaming on Android and even some smart TVs. Now, just ahead of GDC next week, Valve has announced ‘Steam Link Anywhere', which will allow you to …

Last week, we learned that Valve had gone through a round of layoffs, with around 13 employees losing their employment. At the time, it was believed that this mainly impacted Valve's virtual reality hardware team, but there were other areas affected, including the Artifact team. Valve uses a lot of …

Valve has laid off 13 full-time members of staff redundant alongside a number of contractors, seemingly downsizing its hardware department.

Valve has been criticised over its lack of content curation on Steam several times over the last few years. Poor asset flips and fake games have landed on Steam in abundance, with some developers using these games to exploit the Steam marketplace. The Steam curation argument has recently popped up …

Soon-to-be-released games are being snubbed on Steam’s ‘Popular Upcoming’ list due to an exploit.

While Artifact's initial launch numbers seemed promising, within a few weeks, tens of thousands of players had left the game behind. Despite an emergency update in late December to address the game's economy issues, things haven't really picked up since then. Since February, Artifact's player numbers have dwindled to several …

Ahead of its release, Metro Exodus was review bombed on Metacritic as many protested its sudden shift from Steam to the divisive Epic Games Store. In a bizarre change of pace, it seems as though thousands of positive reviews have been flooding Steam itself despite the post-apocalyptic shooter not coming …

With the established dominance of Steam, Valve has attempted to expand into multiple markets across the past few years to varying success. Moving forward, it looks as though the company wants to focus on its gaming efforts as it withdraws its movies on-demand section indefinitely. Originally hosting documentaries such as …

Deep Silver’s choice to pull Metro Exodus from Steam in favour of the Epic Games Store has caused quite the backlash from fans, particularly considering the lack of features in the latter. Those that managed to grab the game on Valve’s platform will be able to start pre-loading ahead of …

Valve has been in a tricky place with Artifact following its launch. While many are still pushing for the game to go free to play, Valve is sticking to its $20/£15 price point and is focussed on adding more value for that money. This started with an in-game way to …

Yesterday we learned that Metro Exodus would no longer be available on Steam at launch, despite being one of the highest pre-ordered games on the platform. Those who already paid will still get their copy of the game on Steam, but those who were waiting until launch have been left …

Artifact has been out for a few months now and despite Valve's reputation, the game has faltered. The $20 price tag and lack of progression system at launch caused a drop in player numbers fairly early on. Now, progression is in the game and earning card packs through regular play …

We have known for quite some time that Valve has been planning various improvements to Steam, including a UI overhaul. We saw the first UI update last year with an update to Steam Chat but this year, it looks like bigger changes will be falling into place, with a library …

After a decade with no refund policy in place, a barrage of criticism and legal complaints led to Valve finally implementing a returns system in 2015. As Epic Games teethes its new digital marketplace, it looks to be implementing a similar refund scheme. Like its competitor, the Epic Games Store …

After a largely monopolistic run in the PC video games market, Steam is facing what looks to be tough competition from emerging stores. The Epic Games Store in particular has managed to snag itself a monumental win, as a new partnership with Ubisoft will see The Division 2 snub Steam …

Valve’s effort to make Counter-Strike: Global Offensive free-to-play gave the game a much-needed boost after months of decline, helping to attain the biggest number ever recorded in the series. Not-so-coincidentally, the number of Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) bans has seen a noticeable surge, with over 600,000 accounts hit with the developer’s …

Over the course of 2016/2017, Valve began to lose some of its most notable writers, with the folks behind the stories for Portal, Half-Life and Left 4 Dead all departing. Since then, Valve has turned things around, with full games in the works once again. With that in mind, it …

The divisive, yet perhaps long-awaited move in making Counter-Strike: Global Offensive free-to-play has done wonders for the game, with reports stating that its unique player count has double since November. CS:GO’s concurrent player base has also seen a boost, almost reaching 1.3 times the amount prior to the update. Early …

Back in June 2018, we learned that Valve would no longer be supporting Steam on Windows XP and Vista starting in January 2019. We have now reached that fateful day, as of now, Steam will no longer support Microsoft's legacy operating systems. Despite being long outdated, a surprising number of …

We are closing in on the end of 2018, which means we’ll be seeing plenty of ‘top 10’, GOTY and best seller lists over the next week or two. Valve has been revealing the top selling games on Steam each year for a few years now. This year, the ‘top …

After Artifact launched, it became clear that Valve's original vision for the game didn't necessarily line up with what many players wanted. Since then, the Artifact team has been working on updating the game, adding in a free (but rewardless) draft mode, ways to generate extra event tickets by recycling …

As expected, Steam’s 12th Annual Winter Sale will land tomorrow, December 20, bringing with it some of the best price reductions of 2018’s brightest and best games. Valve will also be opening up the ballot for its Steam Awards 2018, which now has a list comprised of the final nominees. …

Cross-play between consoles and PC has been a huge topic of discussion over the last year. Microsoft in particular has been pushing for it, although many games rely on the Windows Store for native cross-platform. That could change soon if a recent update to Steam's beta branch is anything to …