It looks the end of an era for Steam, but almost no one is likely to notice. The game and software seller announced changes to its service, specifically that it is removing the video section from the platform.
Steam began offering both paid and free movies and shows in 2015, with a selection that included independent documentaries, feature films, and anime. But after three years, the digital film distribution experiment is coming to a close. Valve took a hard look at what users were watching, or weren’t watching, and decided that the feature wasn’t attracting the audience the company hoped it would. Therefore, it’s paring down its video selection to only include gaming-related content.
In a statement, Valve said, “…it became clear we should focus our effort on offering content that is either directly related to gaming or, is accessory content for games or software sold on Steam.”
Most users probably won’t miss the video browsing section from the Steam menu. Players will still be able to discover associated video content on the related game page, through search, user tags, and recommendations.
Non-gaming videos will be removed from the platform and won’t be available for purchase. Those who already bought movies from Steam will continue to have them in their libraries.
