Valve has today announced plans to expand Steam beyond its pure gaming service. The digital distribution giant has stated that it will soon host a collection of non-game “Software Titles”.
The Software titles coming to Steam will range from creativity to productivity. Many of the launch titles will take advantage of popular Steamworks features, such as easy installation, automatic updating, and the ability to save your work to your personal Steam Cloud space so your files may travel with you.
More Software titles will be added in an ongoing fashion following the September 5th launch, and developers will be able to submit Software titles via Steam Greenlight.
“The 40 million gamers frequenting Steam are interested in more than playing games,” said Mark Richardson at Valve. “They have told us they would like to have more of their software on Steam, so this expansion is in response to those customer requests.”
By offering a robust catalog of apps, Valve has clearly stated its intention to compete with the Mac App Store. Examples of the software Steam will offer have not yet been announced but further details are expected in the coming weeks.