There have been rumors for years that Steam would eventually evolve from a gaming platform into a full-blown multimedia service, and now it appears that Valve is taking the first steps to make that a reality. Steam Database was one of the first to notice the addition of the following new app types in the most recent Steam beta update: film, TV series, video, plugin and music. Preceding the new app types discovered this week, users found mentions of Spotify in the Steam code over a year ago, one of many hints that Steam would be growing in the future.
New application-type IDs for Film, TV Series, Video, Plugin and Music were discovered in Steam binaries today following a recent Steam Beta update. The new app-types, spotted by SteamDB, possibly indicates that Valve may be planning to offer users with a range of deeper multimedia services as part of its drive to make Steam more accessible in the living room. Although, these app-type additions may just be improvements on what Valve already offers. Users can purchase soundtracks of games (or it is included in special editions of certain games), where the soundtrack is saved with the game in the deep directories of the Steam application. The Steam Music Beta, a service that lets users to listen to their local collection of music while playing games, is also currently underway. Ahead of its roll out, references to music streaming service Spotify were found in the Steam client a year ago. On a rudimentary level, Valve already offers film distribution through Steam with Indie Game The Movie being one example. Non-game applications, such as accounting solution You Need A Budget, can be purchased and used through the digital platform, too.
