Valve is looking to consolidate your entire PC gaming experience in a single location with the newest update to their mega-popular Steam service. In addition to playing host to most of your favorite single-player PC experiences, the team announced this morning that Steam will now also support games that require a monthly subscription fee for continued access. (Think MMOs, mostly.)
To be clear, Steam is not adding a Netflix-style subscription-based service to replace the current model. Instead, folks can now manage their subscription-based games through Steam; allowing them to sign-up, manage, cancel or renew subscription plans at any time directly through the online service.
The kick off this brand-new feature, Steam is launching support for Darkfall: Unholy Wars first, with Valve promising support for additional subscription-based games coming soon. Those interested in managing their monthly subscriptions through Steam can visit the support page for more information.
I imagine those who are already firmly rooted in Steam’s traditional services would love to consolidate their gaming experience under one trusted roof. But, for those who usually only subscribe to a single MMO at a time and don’t play much else, I wonder if this will do anything to wrangle them into the Steam camp.
Are you folks interested in taking advantage of Steam’s new service? Would you consider making the switch from buying time cards at a retail store for the convenience of managing subscriptions through Steam? Let us know in the comments section.
