Valve Steam for Linux Gaming Beta Opens with 26 Titles

by Sam Dean - Nov. 07, 2012Comments (1)

Just as October ended, we reported that after several years of slim pickings for Linux gamers, things really began to heat up on the Linux and open source gaming front. Valve, which has delivered very attractive game bundles through its Steam service on non-Linux platforms, was driving much of the action. Valve had promised a beta test of its Steam for Linux by the end of this year. The word was that Valve would deliver 15 Linux games.

Now, Vale's Steam for Linux beta is running, and includes 26 game titles -- nearly twice as many as had been discussed.

Many Linux gamers are watching this closely, especially after the popularity of Steam for the Mac, and excitement surrounding Linux game platforms such as Ouya. The Steam for Linux beta test is a closed beta test for now, but Valve is going to be steadily opening it up to more users. You can apply to test Steam for Linux here. (Note that you need to run it on Ubuntu 12.04, at least for now.)

“This is a huge milestone in the development of PC gaming,” said Gabe Newell, Valve President and co-founder, in an announcement. “Steam users have been asking us to support gaming on Linux. We’re happy to bring rich forms of entertainment and our community of users to this open, customer-friendly platform.”

Steam is already hugely popular for PC and Mac games with over 50 million accounts around the world and over 2,000 titles offered.

More details regarding Steam for Linux, including community discussion, beta participants’ feedback, official announcements and syndicated news can all be tracked on the new Steam for Linux Community Hub at http://steamcommunity.com/linux.