Steam Machine Release Date Coming: Consoles To Launch This Fall As Valve's Steam Celebrates 75 Million Users

Valve’s Steam has managed to amass a user base of more than 75 million, according to an announcement the video game developer made yesterday. The company gained 10 million users in only a few short months – Steam users numbered at 65 million last October.

Valve reported the figures on Jan. 15 during Steam Dev Days, a self-described “two-day game developer’s conference where professionals can meet in a relaxed, off the record environment.” Developers in attendance at the digital distributor’s event were given complimentary Steam machines and controllers. The event was for publishers and developers only, an exclusive workshop that focused on learning about Steam machines and advancing Valve platforms.

In October 2013, Valve stated that Steam’s user base had grown by an impressive 30% within the last 12 months. During the 2013 holiday season, Steam saw a 15% user increase in a short three months. By December last year, Steam had accumulated 7.1 million players.

Steam, which launched for Windows PCs in 2003, is a digital distribution, multiplayer and communications platform that currently houses a library of over 3,000 games, ranging from popular titles to smaller, independent games. In October 2013, Valve expanded the service to include non-gaming software. In 2012, rumors began to spread that alluded to Valve creating its own consoles. The rumors were confirmed in September last year, when Valve revealed a console operating system called SteamOS, a Steam controller, and the final concept of the Steam machine hardware. In December last year, the company sent out prototypes for testing to 300 users.

During 2014 International CES earlier this month, Steam unveiled the development of Steam machines that were created with a number of hardware partners. “We’re not looking to stay with a specific set of people,” Valve designer Greg Coomer said during the consumer electronics show. “It will not be static. But there’s a range of capabilities within those partners. Some of them are set up to serve millions of Steam customers. Some of them are set up to literally serve hundreds, or a very small number of Steam customers. There will be a range.”

Valve head of Business Development Anna Sweet also confirmed that the variety of Steam machines, some which will launch as early as fall 2014, will appeal to a variety of gamer types. "We have 65 million Steam users. They’re a broad range of gamers. They all have different priorities when it comes to buying a Steam Machine. All our partners we’re working with are optimizing differently for size, for price, for performance, for all those things you would expect. We think that’s great, because there’s a ton of different customers out there who want an experience like this, but have different priorities when they’re thinking about what they want to buy.”

Are you one of the 75 million Steam users? What are your favorite games on Steam? Leave a comment below.

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