Steam launches Item Stores for user-made content

By Danny Cowan November 5, 2015

Valve headquarters — Harry101UK

Digital PC gaming platform Steam has introduced Item Stores, a new feature that allows game developers to sell in-game content via a web interface.

The first game to implement an Item Store is Facepunch Studios’ open-world survival sim Rust. Currently, the developer is selling in-game apparel and weapons including uniquely themed hats, hoodies, sleeping bags, pistols, and rifles.

Steam Item Stores supplement the existing Community Market, which allows individual users to sell and trade their own collections of in-game items and collectible cards. Item Stores allow developers to set their own prices and generate revenue on their own terms.

Developers can also partner with amateur modders to make and sell community-sourced items and add-ons. Steam’s terms for revenue sharing between users and game creators have not been disclosed, as the service is currently in a testing phase.

“This new Item Store is designed to make it easy for developers to establish an in-game economy or to just sell individual cosmetic items, keys, or consumables,” Steam representatives explained in a forum post within a private developer-oriented community. “And, it’s designed to easily integrate with a curated Workshop (similar to Team Fortress 2) so you can accept user-made items, use that data to create item definitions and prices in the Steam Inventory Service, and set those items for sale via the Item Store.

“Steam takes care of the checkout process, splitting payments to Workshop authors as appropriate, and adding the items to users’ inventories. Your game then just needs to be able to call the Workshop to download item content in the right circumstances for your game.”

Steam introduced a similar storefront for paid user mods in April, allowing modders to sell their creations via Steam Workshop. The feature was withdrawn shortly after launch following a community backlash. Item Stores give developers more control over the kind of user-made content that can be sold, and more carefully safeguards the process against abuse.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributor

Danny’s passion for video games was ignited upon his first encounter with Nintendo’s Duck Hunt, and years later, he still…

Gaming

Nvidia kills off GameStream on Shield, points users to Steam

Nvidia Shield 16gb Android TV

Nvidia is discontinuing its GameStream service on its Shield and Shield TV streaming boxes (among the best streaming devices on the market). In an email sent to GameStream users, the company announced it would start rolling out an update in mid-February that removes GameStream from the Nvidia Games app.

GameStream has allowed Shield owners to stream games to their TV from their PC at up to 60 frames per second in 4K. Specifically, the app was designed with Steam's Big Picture interface in mind, allowing you to play Steam games with ease (dubbed "GameStream Ready"). Nvidia is pointing users to the Steam Link app available on the Shield TV, which functions in a similar way.

Gaming

Every game verified for the Steam Deck

Two players using Steam Decks to play Stardew Valley.

The handheld market has always been dominated by Nintendo. It essentially invented it with the original GameBoy, and each subsequent device has only gone on to be more popular and financially successful, leading all the way to the hybrid Nintendo Switch console. Others have attempted to break into that lucrative market, PlayStation most notably with its PSP and PS Vita handhelds, but every other company has backed out for failing to hit that sweet spot of price, power, and compelling software. Enter the Steam Deck.

Marketed as a portal PC, the Steam Deck has all the potential to be a strong competitor to Nintendo's Switch. The console is an almost completely open platform and is much more powerful, though it does have a much bigger price tag attached. However, if it really can run all your Steam games, that extra upfront cost could be worth it to take your library of hundreds of games wherever you go. That's assuming all your games will work on the Steam Deck. So far, not every game on Steam has been verified to work on the handheld, so we've compiled a full list of what we know you can play right now on your Steam Deck.

Gaming

The best games for Steam Deck

Final Fantasy VII Remake running on the Steam Deck.

The Steam Deck is the newest handheld to hit the market and aims to compete head-to-head with the likes of the Nintendo Switch. Unlike the Switch, the Steam Deck isn't meant to double as a home console but is more like the Switch Lite in that it is only usable in its handheld form. Also unlike the Switch, this little machine is a beast in terms of power. With access to your Steam library, there needs to be a lot of processing and graphical power to make these games run as well as PC gamers expect.

While not every game you have in your library is available to play via the Steam Deck, a good number are. If you have a Steam library as large as most people do, then sifting through all those titles in your backlog to see what to play on your brand-new device might take all day. Instead, we've gone through all the currently verified games that play on your Steam Deck and selected the best ones to try out first.