Steam Broadcasting Now Available to All
Steam Broadcasting, a new, Twitch-like feature that players can use to stream their games for anyone to watch, is now available to the platform's 100 million+ users. Broadcasting was announced in early December 2014 and had previously been available to some Steam users in beta form.
The feature is currently available to all Steam users as part of the the latest client update. This patch, which will be automatically downloaded, also introduces an in-game FPS counter and lots more.
To use Steam Broadcasting, users can click "Watch Game" on their friend's profile. Viewers don't have to also own the game, pay a fee, or install any additional apps. Though Broadcasting was designed to highlight game clips, users can also utilize the feature to broadcast anything on their desktop.
Steam Broadcasts do, however, forbid a range of content. This includes the following:
Porn, inappropriate or offensive content, warez, or leaked content or anything else not safe for work
Any discussion of piracy
Cheating, hacking, game exploits
Threats of violence or harassment, even as a joke
Posted copyright material such as magazine scans
Soliciting, begging, auctioning, raffling, selling, advertising, referrals
Racism or discrimination
Abusive language, including swearing
In launching Steam Broadcasting, Valve is entering the streaming market currently dominated by Twitch, which is owned by Amazon. Steam is indeed a force, with 100 million accounts and close to 4,000 games, though it remains to be seen what effect Steam Broadcasting might have on Twitch.
Earlier this year, Steam rolled out a major design overhaul that introduced a range of features and functionality aimed at helping you filter through the flood of new releases.
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