One of the longest and largest digital PC retailers on the market is celebrating a major milestone. Valve’s Steam platform has just turned 20, yes we can’t believe it either, and the company is kicking off a special 20th Anniversary Celebration with special sales event. Starting this week, Steam users can enjoy up to 90% off some of Valve’s own titles, with the exception of Half-Life: Alyx. They also released a very brief but funny thank you video on YouTube, which also features a very tongue-in-cheek joke at the end.
They also have a special page on their storefront which showcases each best-selling title from each year Steam has been available, all the way from 2003 to 2023. It’s a nice little trip down memory lane, especially for those who have been using the platform since the very beginning, which includes us! When Steam initially launched in 2003, the digital retailer distribution was very much in its infancy with the majority of people still buying their titles at brick-and-mortar stores. Steam didn’t have a major overnight user increase, but that all changed when Valve released one of the most anticipated titles of all time; Half-Life 2.
The title launched in November 2004, a little more than a year after the platform was released. Players were surprised, and rather annoyed, that Valve required anyone playing Half-Life 2 to have a Steam account, which also required an internet connection. At the time, it was unheard of and created a bit of backlash for Valve and Steam. However, everyone eventually got used to it and Half-Life 2 went onto become one of the most critically acclaimed titles in history. This was also a major windfall for Steam, as the account-number base exponentially increased, allowing Valve to bring in more publishers and developers to sell on the platform.
This eventually led to Steam dominating the PC gaming market, creating an almost-monopoly-like situation where the have now amassed tens of thousands of titles being readily available to play. Of course, others have tried to throw their hat in the ring with Steam, Epic Games, GOG, Ubisoft, and Microsoft being the most noteworthy. Regardless, Valve powered through and even created their own hardware, with the most recent being the famous Steam Deck, with another iteration already on the way.
Either way you try to extrapolate it, Steam has continued on for several reasons, and it’s not just that there’s and endless stream of games in its library, or the fact that the have so many sales and discounts. It’s because they’ve ballooned into the single most known market for PC gamers becoming more than just a household name, they’ve become fully integrated into gaming pop culture as well.