The internet has been buzzing after Valve registered the domain name Steam.tv, causing speculation that the company was entering the game streaming industry against Twitch and YouTube Gaming.
Later the same day the domain was registered, Steam.tv actually went live, broadcasting the Dota 2 mega-tournament The International. The annual event is one of the most-watched eSports events of the year. Valve quickly pulled Steam.tv offline that same day, saying that the website going offline was an error that resulted from an internal test. However, as of now, Steam.tv has officially gone live.
Steam.tv’s unique edge over Twitch is its full Steam integration. When you log in to your Steam account, your friends list will appear on the left side, appearing very similar to Steam’s usual “Friends and Chat” window. From this window, you can message your friends, see what they’re playing, or otherwise interact with them just as you would on Steam. You can also seamlessly hop into a live broadcast of your friend’s gameplay, allowing you to interact with and harass your friends in real-time (this feature can be turned off if you don’t feel like broadcasting your gaming session to the world).
Additionally, you can invite friends to watch broadcasts together. You can chat using the built-in voice chat client (as long as you’re using Google Chrome; browser voice chat is coming to other browsers later).
The website so far seems to be a cool way to tie Steam’s social features with a broadcasting site. While it remains to be seen if Steam.tv will become a serious competitor to Twitch, it looks promising so far.
