Tag Archives: valve

It is well known at this point that hundreds of games launch on Steam every week and a good chunk of them aren't particularly good. Over time, Valve has been clamping down on the number of ways poor quality games can make money on Steam, like changing the trading card …

Over the last couple of years, we've seen an exodus of writers at Valve, with multiple veterans leaving the studio to work on other projects. This included Half-Life writer, Marc Laidlaw, The duo behind Left 4 Dead and Jay Pinkerton, who worked on Portal 2 and some of the Team …

While Valve has removed loot boxes from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in the Netherlands after the country’s conclusion that the practice is gambling, it looks like the developer is trialling a different method for Dota 2. Still in compliance with newly introduced laws, Dutch players will now be able to see …

While Ubisoft is just finding its feet in punishing hackers, Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) is often celebrated among players, becoming a staple term for those that get banned both on and off Steam. VAC bans have reached an all-time high last week, with over 90,000 players being hit with the banhammer. …

Valve’s increased focus on user privacy spelled bad news for unofficial sales tracking sites in April, with Steam Spy almost shutting up shop entirely. Fan support motivated creator Sergey Galyonkin to find a workaround and just as things were starting to look up, Valve has once again stepped in and …

Valve has been making some moves on the development side lately. Aside from acquiring Campo Santo, the team behind Firewatch, Valve has also recently hired some new writers. Most notably, Valve brought Rob Yescombe on board, who penned the story behind The Invisible Hours last year. The Invisible Hours is …

While much attention is currently being placed on the Steam Summer Sale, Valve did have one other launch quietly take place last night. After some extra work and some design changes, Valve has debuted the latest version of its Knuckles VR controllers, alongside a Portal-themed tech demo called ‘Portal Moondust'. …

While controversial school shooting simulator Active Shooter was removed from Steam at the end of last month, it has remained purchasable directly through Acid Software’s website. Unfortunately, it’s just lost the support of one of the biggest means of payment, as PayPal has barred the publisher from using its services. …

Loot boxes became the subject of controversy for the Dutch back in April, as The Netherlands Gaming Authority found that some games did breach gambling laws. The country gave developers until today to alter game designs or face prosecution, forcing Valve to make some changes to its Marketplace. It’s fair …

Valve is increasingly evolving its Steam platform, attempting to prioritise quality and stomp out ‘fake games’ and reviews. The company has already put new restrictions in place to prevent asset flippers from making a quick buck, and those that do get past these security measures will have a hard time …

Despite being long outdated, a surprising number of people still use Windows XP or Windows Vista today. For PC gamers, this will soon no longer be a viable option. We've already seen Blizzard drop support for Microsoft's legacy operating systems, and soon, Steam will be doing the same thing. Lots …

We've been following the rollercoaster ride that has been Steam Link for iOS for a few weeks now. At first, everything seemed to be going to plan on Valve's end, until Apple suddenly pulled its approval for the app. Since then, Valve has been reworking the app to try and …

Back in March 2017, Valve began tightening up its rules on Steam in an effort to reduce the number of ‘fake games' on the platform and stop developers from exploiting Steam's systems in order to turn a profit. This started off with restrictions to trading card eligibility, and now, it …

Discord has become the de facto chat tool for gamers. It offers a sleek design that makes it easy for huge numbers of gamers to congregate in a group and coordinate. Pretty much the antithesis of Steam Chat, a clunky and outdated service that’s only really used as a last …

Valve’s content policy has been the subject of a lot of conversation over the years, with the firm often criticised for allowing one type of game to flourish, such as the recent school shooter simulator, while titles with sexual content seem to always have a target on their back. Well, …

On the 25th of May, Valve revealed that Apple had revoked its approval for the Steam Link app, which allows PC gamers to stream games from their PCs to other devices. Apple stated this was due to business conflicts, but new guidelines may pave the way for the app to …

For the past 10 years, Valve’s Steam client has been vulnerable from a bug that could have resulted in remote code execution (RCE) in all 15 million clients on the platform. Luckily, security researcher Tom Court revealed the bug before any damage could be done, resulting in Valve finally patching …

Last week, controversial FPS Active Shooter debuted on Steam, pitting players in the shoes of a school shooter tasked with taking down as many people as possible. Valve has since responded to the criticism that the title has drawn, removing it from the platform. Active Shooter arrived in the wake …

Update (28/05/18): Last week we learned that the Steam Link streaming app would remain exclusive to Android for the foreseeable future, as Apple revoked Valve's App Store approval. At the time, Apple cited ‘business conflicts' after a secondary review of the app. This was disappointing news to many PC gamers …

Valve has found itself in a spot of bother, after the controversial video game Active Shooter was published on Steam Direct. The title allows players to assume the role of a school shooter, which has attracted criticism in the wake of the Santa Fe High School shooting in Texas just …

Valve has started a bug bounty program, offering hackers cash rewards for identifying vulnerabilities across its various properties. Alongside the general Steam application, these rewards stretch across apps within Steam, Valve-owned web domains and the publisher’s own games. Bug bounty programs aren’t a new concept, with Valve publicly joining Twitter, …

It has been a few years since Valve first unveiled the Steam Link, and over time, we've been wondering what the next step is for Steam in-home streaming. Now Valve has lifted the curtain on its plans, announcing the Steam Link app for iOS and Android, which will let you …

Update (27/04/18): After a lengthy legal battle in Australia over a $3 million fine, Valve has finally run out of options. The company lost its High Court appeal to have the fine overturned for its lack of refund policy in 2014. As a result, Valve will now have to pay …

Campo Santo captured the attention of a large number of gamers a couple of years ago with the release of Firewatch. Now, it looks like Valve was also suitably impressed as over the weekend, it was announced that Valve had acquired Campo Santo, who will now be releasing their next …

Valve has revised its privacy policies, updating its Steam client to provide users with the ability to hide what information is accessible to others such as owned games and the playtime behind them. Unfortunately, this has caused some unrest among tracking sites such as Steam Spy, which relies on the …

Earlier this week, we were quick to notice that Valve had quietly removed the link to Steam Machines from the front page of the Steam Store. Now, Valve has spoken publicly about this decision, stating that it was part of a “routine cleanup” and admitting that while the Linux powered …

A few years back, Valve made its first attempt to break into the hardware space with Steam Machines. While originally people had expected a standardized console, the Steam Machines turned out to be expensive Linux-powered pre-built gaming PCs, sold by third-party vendors in various shapes and sizes. The concept didn't …

Last week, Valve made a change to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive's trading rules, extending the trade cool down period to seven days. The aim was to stop automated Steam accounts from trading items frequently via third-party services, but it looks like the change has sparked a lot of debate among players, …

Today, Valve announced that it is implementing a new feature into SteamVR. We are used to some games and graphics card drivers offering up suggestions on what in-game settings to use based on the capabilities of your GPU. Now, SteamVR will be doing something similar for virtual reality titles, with …

Dota 2 has been a great success for Valve over the years and its position as a free to play game has surely helped with that. With that in mind, it is big news that after all of these years, Valve has decided to implement a new subscription for the …