Steam (software)


![Graph showing the sales of Garry's Mod, a digitally released game on the Steam service. The largest spikes are caused by Steam sales and promotions.[204] As of April 2014, it has sold 4.8 million copies through the service.[205]](/uploads/202502/13/Garrys-Mod-sales-graph5903.png)
Steam is a digital distribution platform developed by Valve Corporation offering digital rights management (DRM), multiplayer gaming and social networking services. Steam provides the user with installation and automatic updating of games on multiple computers, and community features such as friends lists and groups, cloud saving, and in-game voice and chat functionality. The software provides a freely available application programming interface (API) called Steamworks, which developers can use to integrate many of Steam's functions into their products, including networking, matchmaking, in-game achievements, micro-transactions, and support for user-created content through Steam Workshop.