No Twitch account required.
Valve has just flipped the switch on its latest Steam client endeavor. Steam Broadcasting will allow any user of the game distribution platform to livestream their gameplay to anyone who’s willing to watch. And, naturally, you can watch the livestream of anyone who is broadcasting.
The new feature means a third-party client like Twitch is no longer a necessity for PC gamers who want to stream their sick, mod-heavy Skyrim antics to the rest of the world.
Steam Broadcasting is part of Valve’s Steam beta client, which means the livestreamer and those who want to watch need to have the beta client installed. Once the software is in place, you can determine who can watch your stream (anyone, or just friends). Watching a stream can be done directly in the Steam browser, Google Chrome, or Apple’s Safari browser (no IE9 or Firefox support just yet). For those who like to watch, it appears to be baked right into the right-click menu, as a new “Watch Friend” button appears in the beta client.
EA’s Origin client also supports livestreaming thanks to its partnership with Twitch.
The FAQs for Steam Broadcasting also reveal what kind of community Valve has in mind for its new livestreaming endeavor. While it’s hard to say with what force these rules will be enforced, Valve says the following shouldn’t appear in livestreams on its platform:
I’m sure some of these (porn) will be strictly enforced, but I’m curious to see how aggressively Valve handles streams where exploits are discussed.
To activate Steam Broadcasting on your account: Open Steam, go to Settings>Account, and select “Steam Beta Update” under the Beta Participation tab.
Source: Valve
