Valve officially closes video storefront on Steam platform

Fariha Bhatti Published 09/03/2019

A recent update to the Stream news page has brought the closing of Valve’s video store.

The update to services provided will prevent the purchase of new videos and remove non-gaming videos from the Steam storefront. Changes are set to be implemented over the coming weeks in what has been dubbed a “refocus” by Valve.

The company informed the public that the decision to close the video store had been made after after “reviewing what Steam users actually watch.”

Although gaming-related videos will remain on the Steam platform, they will no longer exist in a dedicated video section of the store menu. Instead, Stream users will be able to find videos when they’re related to the games they are already browsing.

Videos and movies previously purchased by Steam customers on the platform will still be available to them for download, whether they were related to gaming or not. Valve has promised that any owned content will remain in Steam users’ libraries even if that content is removed from the store and is no longer available for purchase.

Steam’s video service grew over a number of years, with the first video product on Steam being released in 2012.

Titled “Indie Game: The Movie,” the storefront’s debut documentary followed independent game developers Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes during the development process of acclaimd indie game Super Meat Boy. In 2014, the first fictional film was released on Steam, titled Motivational Growth. This was a comedy released by game developer Devolver Digital, who had published such games as Hotline Miami and Shadow Warrior.

The video store further grew in 2016 when Valve announced a partnership with entertainment company Lionsgate, which owns one of the world’s largest film studios. The deal offered 100 new films to Steam customers, including movies from the company’s blockbuster Hunger Games and Saw franchises.

Valve has not offered a detailed explanation as to why the video store is shutting down, though the implication is that few users took advantage of the feature and it generated little revenue.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.

View full profile

Read Also

Kick

Kick’s Eddie Craven Addresses Ongoing KPP Complaints and Viewbotting Khizar Mundia Several Kick streamers have taken to social media to publicly air their grievances about their KPP apparently being reduced. Kick director Ethan Wright recently responded to the complaints, and now Eddie Craven has also discussed the issue for creators. Stake-backed livestreaming platform Kick has made its place in the industry, in large part because of its higher revenue potential. While there have been one-off incidents where Kick has been criticized ...

Fortnite

Leaks Suggest That a Fortnite X One Piece Collaboration May Be Coming Hannan Mundia Fortnite has collaborated with all sorts of franchises over the years, but a potentially leaked collaboration with One Piece may be the largest yet. When it comes to games collaborating with known IPs, it’s borderline impossible to compete with Fortnite. The battle royale game has some insane collaborations under its belt, including one with Kingdom Hearts when the Square Enix IP’s popularity is at an all-time high. However, if recent ...

Kick

FaZe Banks Thinks N3on’s AI Clone Could Be Worth $100M — How AI Is Changing Streaming Khizar Mundia Rangesh “N3on” Mutama may have received widespread backlash following his decision to use an AI model for certain content, but FaZe boss Richard “Banks” Bengtson has compared the streamer to legendary TikToker Khaby Lame. N3on was recently in the limelight after viewers noticed that a GTA 6 streamer NPC resembles him. The Kick streamer wasted no time in recreating the GTA 6 Netflix Extended Look in an IRL livestream, and ...

Twitch

Twitch Is Testing An AI Stream Coach — Here’s How It Works Khizar Mundia Amazon-backed livestreaming platform Twitch is testing a new feature that will act as an AI coach for streamers, giving them personalized feedback to improve. Twitch has been playing around with several experimental features to improve things for its users. One of these includes auto clips, which was a feature that would automatically generate clips from the best moments of a stream. Another is AI-generated summaries of what happened in a ...

Twitch

Kai Cenat Talks Streamer University, Vivet, and Streaming Future Khizar Mundia Kai Cenat recently sat down with The New York Times for an interview. In a wide-ranging discussion, the Twitch streamer talked about what he looks for in Streamer University participants, and also delved into both his Vivet brand, as well as what the future holds. Kai Cenat may have gone on a break following his massively successful Mafiathon 3, but the creator returned with with a bang in Streamer University ...

League of Legends

Riot Games eyes Polymarket and Kalshi for esports sponsorships Michael Hassall Riot Games, the creator of League of Legends and VALORANT is reportedly exploring the protentional of sponsorship deals with prediction market operators including Polymarket and Kalshi, as per reports emerging late last night (Sep. 10). First reported by Cecilia D’Anastasio of Bloomberg, Riot has started conversations with the two top prediction market operators, Kalshi and Polymarket, with a view to one or both of them becoming sponsors within Riot Games’ ...

Slots

This Is How Gates of Olympus 2500 Builds On The Iconic Series Ian John Since the first Gates of Olympus slot hit casinos in 2021, the series has evolved into one of the most recognisable in the Pragmatic Play stable. The combination of scatter wins, tumbling symbols and dramatic multipliers has established a formula that has been followed in a number of sequels and spin-offs. The latest in that series is the Gates of Olympus 2500 slot, but this game takes a slightly more ...