Valve, Microsoft already talking about Xbox Game Pass on Steam

Gabe Newell is the founder of Valve and said his company welcomes the Xbox Game Pass service on Steam, should Microsoft decide to offer it through this marketplace. Newell’s comments, to PC Gamer this weekend, come a week after the launch of the Steam Deck handheld gaming PC.

“We’d be more than happy to work with them to get that on Steam,” Newell told PC Gamer, adding that a subscription service isn’t “something that we think we need to do ourselves.”

In any case, there’s enough precedent to make such a deal plausible. After several years of selling top-selling games only through Microsoft Store, Microsoft has now begun to sell its Windows PC games on Steam in 2019. Additionally, EA Play — whose library is available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers — likewise has been available on Steam since August 2020.

Further, last week Bethesda Softworks — which Microsoft acquired in 2020 — announced it would retire the Bethesda.net Launcher for its games on PC, another sign that Microsoft doesn’t see proprietary storefronts or launchers as all that helpful to its games distribution.

Newell indicated that Microsoft and Valve had already discussed selling Game Pass subscriptions to Steam. “If your customers want it, then you should figure out how to make it happen,” he told PC Gamer. “That’s where we’re at.”

Game Pass is currently delivering versions of some games slightly different to those that publishers and developers launch on Steam. This may complicate integration plans. And as far as the Steam Deck being a catalyst getting Game Pass and Steam together, remember that the new hardware isn’t ready to install Windows just yet. Owners could boot Windows on their device once drivers are available from Valve or AMD.