Valve pipes out Steamworks

Last year was a busy one for Valve. In addition to shipping the Orange Box, a game which received one of the highest aggregate review scores of the year, the developer made significant gains with its online digital distribution portal Steam. Several publishers, including Rockstar, Capcom, id Software, among others, signed on to distribute their wares through the service, and Valve launched a new community hub to accommodate its more than 13 million global users.

Looking to keep its pipes hot through the new year, Valve has announced that Steamworks, its proprietary suite of publishing tools, is now available to developers and publishers worldwide free of charge. The tools include a number of back-end support services for developers, including encryption systems, auto-update functionality, voice chat integration, social-networking services, and development tools, among other features. The tools can be used for PC games distributed through retail and online platforms.

"Developers and publishers are spending more and more time and money cobbling together all the tools and backend systems needed to build and launch a successful title in today's market," said Valve president and founder Gabe Newell. "Steamworks puts all those tools and systems together in one free package, liberating publishers and developers to concentrate on the game instead of the plumbing."

More information on the free publishing tools suite is available through Valve's Steamworks Web site.