14 DAY TRIAL // A developer working for Valve has confirmed that the company is interesting in extending the range of hardware platforms on which their Steam system would run but made it clear that the ultimate decision rests with the companies that make the platforms.
Speaking with CVG at the Gamescom event which took place last week, Erik Johnson, the project manager working on Portal 2, answered a direct question about Steam on the Microsoft home console saying, “Yeah. We think customers would like”, adding, “We think, anyway. We'd love to try that.”
The statement makes it pretty clear that while Valve is interested in extending the platforms that allow it to use its service the decision does not rest with it.
Microsoft has been very protective of Xbox Live, making sure that it has complete control over the content that arrives on it, which has frustrated some developers.
Recently Valve announced that Portal 2 would be also coming to the PlayStation 3 from Sony, complete with full support for Steamworks, which means that automatic updates, community features, match making, downloadable content and in game communication can be handled by Valve using the PlayStation Network structure rather than by Sony.
Steam has been one of the best things to happen to the PC platform in the last few years, allowing publisher to distribute their video games without any kind of physical package and introducing a host of features that make it more attractive than picking up a copy in a brick and mortar store.
The limitations that Microsoft enforces when it comes to Xbox Live were also recently visible when it comes to Final Fantasy XIV, the MMO that Square Enix is currently developing.
The game was supposed to arrive on the Xbox 360, after the inroads made by Final Fantasy XIII, but at the moment the publisher is also talking about the versions for the PC and the PlayStation 3.