Steam releases new chat functionality for all users
Steam has started to release the new chat functionality, which previously became available in the form of a beta, for all users. Valve wants to compete with the popular Discord. Among other things, voice chats are now supported.
The new Steam chat is modernizing the chat experience for Steam users, by grouping friends by the game they play or by team. Furthermore, the favorites list has been made easily accessible and more information can be viewed about a friend who is in a game; for example where in the game they are and if they have just started a game. The chat environment can also be accessed via a web client.
In addition, Steam chat makes it possible to display media as videos, tweets and gifs inline. By dragging friends from the list into a chat, group conversations can easily be started and saved. Invitations for this can also be sent in the form of links, as is the case with Discord, and the voice functionality, which Valve says is encrypted, runs via the Steam servers and uses WebRTC and the Opus codec.
Valve wants to use this compete with the popular Discord. The free, game-based chat app announced in May that it had 130 million users .
In addition, Steam chat makes it possible to display media as videos, tweets and gifs inline. By dragging friends from the list into a chat, group conversations can easily be started and saved. Invitations for this can also be sent in the form of links, as is the case with Discord, and the voice functionality, which Valve says is encrypted, runs via the Steam servers and uses WebRTC and the Opus codec.
Valve wants to use this compete with the popular Discord. The free, game-based chat app announced in May that it had 130 million users .