Well, that was quick. Less than a week after Valve launched a closed beta test for its Steam iOS and Android app, the company has announced that its free Steam app is now available for everyone to use. The app itself can be downloaded for free via Apple"s App Store or Google"s Android Marketplace.
While the app won"t actually allow Steam users to download and play any of the games in Steam"s library of PC and Mac titles, it will allow them to see if their Steam friends are online and what game they might be playing at the time. They can also chat with their Steam friends via a chat client. The mobile app also allows people to check out the list of games currently available on Steam, check out screenshots from those games, read up on news and updates and be alerted if any Steam games get special price cuts.
In semi-related news, some of Valve"s games are now being sold outside of Steam. GameStop"s Impulse PC game download service is now offering a number of Valve"s games for sale including Portal 2, both Left 4 Dead games and others. It"s the first time that Valve"s games have appeared on another digital download game store. The Valve games on Impulse still require Steam authentication.
Image via Valve