Recent Steam Beta Update Suggests Valve Will be Adding Movies, Music, and other Media Types

With the Steam beta client update released yesterday, SteamDB uncovered new app types for film, TV series, video, plugin, and music in the code for the client. These new app types very likely point to Valve’s continued attempts at making Steam a living-room platform that allows for streaming of all a family’s entertainment needs.

While it may also be possible that these app types are just improvements upon what was already there – Steam users can download music tracks from games and stream them with a Spotify-like service, the platform offers non-game software, and recently Steam even began hosting a video game related documentaries like Indie Game: The Movie – with the progress of the Steam OS it seems more likely this update foreshadows the all-in-one entertainment platform Valve has promised us.

The Bigger Picture

Valve’s ambitious plan to make an all-in-one living room entertainment system began back in 2012 with the Big Picture, which redesigned the Steam library interface to make it more gamepad and televsion friendly. Following that, Valve began development on the Steam Machines and shortly after that beta testers got their hands on the Valve Controller.

The Valve Controller boasts impressive new technology but thus far has been received with mixed criticism.

While we can only speculate as to whether these new app types are harbingers of Valve’s intention to compete with streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Pandora, and Spotify it seems certain that for gamers the inclusion of these apps means Valve is getting ever closer to their all-in-one console.