On September 12, 2003, Valve launched Steam. What at the time was seen as a scummy DRM that requires Half-Life 2 to be authenticated through the Internet is now the beloved de-facto PC launcher and games store we know today. Time sure has flown by.
Steam has dedicated a sales page chronicling the history of Steam. The page itself is doused in an olive green background, a throwback to the original Steam client’s default colour. For each year, the page summarises the cool new feature (even defunct ones) as well as the big pop culture/meme that haunt the year. The art here done by Claire Hummel is lovely.
Since it is a sales page, there is a selection of games highlighted and for this one, it’s a highlight of the top games released on Steam in the past 20 years. Steam has made an annual thing of revealing the top-selling games on the platform recently, but to see that stretched out to 20 years ago sure is something. The indie game Darwinia, by Introversion Software, was a big hit on Steam in 2005, and impressively, the devs are still around making games still.
All games by Valve are on sale right now as well. So if you need to grab Left 4 Dead or Half-Life for less than RM3, now’s the time.