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Valve has officially announced the 10th annual Steam Awards 2026. To celebrate the event's decade-long milestone, organizers have completely revamped the design and shaken up the list of categories. -
Independent developers are running into unexpected delays when publishing projects on Steam. What used to take a few days can now stretch into weeks, throwing off release dates and plans at small studios. Some developers believe the cause may be a sharp surge in games made with generative AI. Valve itself has acknowledged the added load on its review system. -
Gabe Newell, Valve's co-founder and head, has spent decades shaping PC gaming. Born in Colorado on November 3, 1962, he is one of the best-known figures in the gaming industry, where fans have long known him by the nickname Gaben. He turns 64 on November 3, 2026. -
“Valve played capitalism so well they broke it”: former Epic developer believes Steam will never be replaced
A former Epic Games engineer is convinced that even an objectively better store couldn’t take players away from Steam. Analysts seem to agree, but they name one condition. -
Thanks to three separate leaks, enthusiasts have managed to piece together a nearly complete version of F-Stop, Valve's canceled Portal prequel. The reconstructed build features original assets, source code, and map data from the official, yet never publicly released game. -
At a Steam Indie Connect meeting in South Korea on October 27, Valve said it wants better recommendation systems to help players find games that match their interests, while leaving AI-made projects on Steam and avoiding an AI filter. The company framed the change as a response to complaints about low-quality releases. -
A Steam Frame kernel commit landed after a user asked Valve to make external drives work with the headset. The change appeared a day after Aiodensghost posted on October 18, 2026, hoping to use a drive to watch movies while travelling and install Need for Speed: Carbon from disc. -
Valve has temporarily disabled Meepo in Dota 2 following a wave of game-breaking exploits that players were heavily abusing to gain an unfair advantage. -
Tim Sweeney called Valve's rules "disgusting" and sided with those who think disclosing AI use is absurd in 2026. But the success of some games carrying the label suggests otherwise. -
Valve has turned Steam Personal Calendar into a permanent feature of the Steam Store after 11 months in Steam Labs. Available on Steam, it surfaces recent releases and games due in the next eight weeks, without sponsored placements.
The calendar is built around your play habits, with time spent in games you play often serving as its main recommendation signal. Valve says a few minutes with a new game will have little effect, while spending a lot of time in a new favorite can influence future suggestions. -
During a panel at the GameSoundCon conference, a representative from Valve officially dropped a mention of a mysterious upcoming project. -
Some Counter-Strike 2 players say Valve has sent them fresh access to the VACNet Labeling Portal, the company's moderation tool for reviewing suspect matches. The invited users can watch clips for cheating indicators, but their verdicts do not directly decide account bans. -
A Reddit post from October 20 has turned into a broader discussion about how Steam surfaces demos during Next Fest. The user asked Valve to add a filter that hides games made with generative AI from recommendations, search results, and Steam Next Fest listings. The October 2026 edition of the festival began on October 19 and runs through October 26, with its Steam page available now. -
How much Valve makes from Steam's 30% cut, and why the company is facing antitrust lawsuits and claims in the US, the UK, and the Netherlands. -
On October 16, 2026, Deadlock hit a new all-time Steam peak of 303,347 concurrent players as Valve rolled out the City Never Sleeps update and introduced Violet, the fifth of six new heroes. Valve introduced the artist that day, and the player count set a new record for the game. -
According to a former Valve employee, profiles, cards and account levels aren't decorations but what the entire platform is built on. -
Valve Index is no longer being produced — the headset is being sold at a discount, but without controllers or a base station
Valve has announced that it has discontinued production of the Index VR headset: now remaining units are being sold off at a discount. -
Valve has released the Steam Frame's CAD files, giving makers official dimensions for designing accessories for the unreleased VR headset. The repository includes models and reference materials for the core module, head strap, controllers, and expansion port, so creators can work from the headset's specifications instead of measuring it by hand. -
iFixit's Steam Frame teardown found one encouraging detail: the headset's optical and computing section detaches from the strap, so the rear battery can be serviced without taking apart the whole device. The bad news is that the battery is glued in place with no release tabs, and removing it required isopropyl alcohol and careful prying. -
Valve's Deadlock isn't officially out. The team shooter has no price, no release date and no full system requirements, and the only way in is an invite from a friend who already plays. Yet on October 6, it peaked at 236,730 concurrent players, according to Steam. At that moment, the only games on Steam with more people playing were Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2 and AION 2, a new MMO that had launched globally on Steam the day before.
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