Valve set to overhaul Steam service

Valve plans to revamp its Steam games delivery and mutliplayer games service next month, adding a bunch of Web 2.0-style features.

Users will be able to set up personal pages and profiles, create and join groups, schedule games with friends, look at play stats and also access voice chat features. It’s the biggest upgrade since Steam’s launch in 2004, is free, and works with all Steam-based games.

Valve has built an enviable place for itself in the games industry as both a developer, co-developer and service company, providing a platform for many of the industry’s major publishers to distribute their games.

"Our community has given us great direction on the ways they want to see Steam evolve," said Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve. "Adding these new community features to make it easier to connect with other gamers is something we’ve wanted to see on Steam for a long time and this latest update is just the start. We’ve got a long list of items that we’re working on to make it easier for gamers to connect and play games on Steam."