Steam Games on Consoles; Gabe Newell Thinks About Expansion

Steam may be heading to consoles. Gabe Newell, founder of Valve, promises more information before the end of this year.

During a Q&A session with Gabe Newell at a public school in New Zealand, a question was asked about whether Steam plans to port its games to consoles or stay on the PC. The answer from Valve Software's head caused quite a stir in the hall - because Newell said that we will receive more information on the subject before the end of this year.

The presenter's question referred to 'Steam games', which in itself is only a distribution website, not a developer. That's what Valve Software does, and it's the studio that Gabe Newell may have been referring to in his answer. Perhaps this is a teaser of the announcement of Valve's new games, which may appear not only on the PC. However, Newell's answer can also be interpreted as a teaser of the entry of Steam, as a store, into the console market.

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It's hard to say what exactly Gabe Newell had in mind. Knowing Valve - anything is possible. News that Gabe Newell's company is working with Microsoft on... something (see the leaked documents from the Epic vs Apple trial) regularly appears on the web. Theoretically, it could be the Steam app for Xbox, however, given that Microsoft very intensively developing the xCloud project, perhaps Valve will also join the game streaming market. Given the number of unknowns in the matter, perhaps this is Newell's deeply hidden secret, more on which is to be revealed before the end of the year.

Gaben's statement, of course, sparked a lot of discussions. In addition to the possibility of Steam's entry on consoles, the eyes of debaters turned to, among others, the Half-Life franchise, which still remains one of the most important series associated with Valve. Newell's words could refer to Half-Life 3, a game we have been long waiting for (and no announcement is in sight). Slightly more likely seems to be the idea that the 'Steam games' potentially heading to consoles could be Half-Life: Alyx, a title designed for VR, currently unavailable to PlayStation VR users. What could Gabe Newell be talking about? We'll probably have to wait until the end of the year to get an answer.