Valve celebrates two decades of Steam with memes

Let’s all take a moment to reflect on how much we despised Steam when it first launched.

On Sep. 12, 2002, Steam opened for business. Steam was initially perceived as a copyright protector behind its trademarked, olive-drab exterior. Remember, at the time, we were all still wearing animal pelts, and mostly purchasing physical copies of our games off store shelves, so why did we need to run the game through a dedicated portal handled by the game’s publisher?

Steam was initially limited to a few Valve first-party titles. However, it quickly grew into the preferred method of distributing mods and updates for the newly released Source engine. Today, developers can still use this platform to show off and distribute work.

Official 20th Anniversary Page: This official page gives a snapshot year by year of Steam’s most popular games, with Valve characters that are well-known impersonating some of the most infamous memes of the internet. Claire Hummel has lovingly illustrated each one. These illustrations can be purchased as animated stickers in the Steam Points Shop.

Grid View

Valve, despite what we may have thought of Steam twenty years ago, has grown to be the preferred platform for PC gamers looking for new titles. Valve now focuses on developing new hardware, rather than new games. But if this means getting a sequel to the already excellent Steam Deck, I’m all about it.