Valve, the company that owns Steam, has stated that it is eager to assist Microsoft in bringing PC Game Pass to its platform.
Steam is the video game digital distribution service by parent company Valve that offers digital rights management (DRM), server hosting, video streaming, and social networking services.
It also includes community features such as friends lists and groups, cloud storage, and in-game voice and chat functions, as well as game installation and automatic updates.
Steam offers so much that the next natural step would be a subscription service right? Well, that question was brought up in an interview PCGamer recently had with Gabe Newell who said Valve was not interested in launching their own subscription service but said he would “ happily implement Game Pass on Steam if Microsoft were willing.”
He went on to say:
”For their customers, it’s clearly a popular option, and we’d be more than happy to work with them to get that on Steam.”
When asked if a new partnership with Microsoft was already in the works, Newell said:
“If your customers want it, then you should figure out how to make it happen. That’s where we’re at.”
Some formerly exclusive Microsoft Store titles, such as Sea of Thieves, are now available on Steam. It’ll also be the future home of Bethesda games, which are owned by Microsoft.
Subscription services, in general, are also becoming more common on Steam. For example, EA Play joined in 2020, but its premium tier is still restricted to EA’s launcher. EA may have been put off by Valve’s 30% portion of sales, and that could be a sticking point for Microsoft as well. Only time will tell.
So, while a “Steam Pass” subscription is unlikely to appear anytime soon, the idea of Game Pass games being accessible for download from Steam does exist. There’s a precedent for this because of EA’s game subscription service, being added to Steam.
Game Pass, on the other hand, would most certainly be more difficult. The service currently offers different versions of games than those released by the developers on Steam, which is why we frequently notice Game Pass-specific difficulties.
It will be intriguing to watch what happens next with Game Pass and Steam, and it makes one wonder if Valve and Microsoft are genuinely in talks about the two companies collaborating. Well, you can guarantee we’ll let you know as soon as anything new about this story breaks, so stay tuned.