The Steam digital store arrived over 20 years ago on PC in 2003 and set the precedent for how digital video games would be delivered with ease going forward.
Since that time, the Steam platform has pretty much nailed down the quality of its service whether it be buying video games and DLC on PC or delivering the next much-needed patch. However, there is always room for improvement and the latest update for the Steam platform brings new features that its customers have been begging for.
Check out the Steam Deck trailer below!
Recently, a beta update has been taking place for select Steam users and now, that update is ready to roll out for everyone else. The update will allow you to mark games of your choice as private, meaning that others cannot see those risqué games. What’s more, you can also specifically make multiplayer games hidden to avoid a flurry of invites. For example, I often receive random invites from my friends list to play Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone, so if you want a few hours of peace, that’s a nice option to have.
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Elsewhere, you can now gift games to multiple Steam users at once if you’re feeling extra generous as well as making your cart visible from any device. Speaking of purchases, the update will also allow you to make pre-orders hidden on your profile too.
The patch notes via a recent Steam blog post can be found below:
Shopping cart update:
- Inline gifting: Gift to multiple friends in one go, with streamlined messaging for hassle-free checkout.
- One cart across all devices: Your cart now follows you seamlessly anywhere you're signed in to Steam (including Deck and mobile), ensuring a unified shopping experience wherever you go.
- Private purchasing: Maintain your privacy by marking games as private before purchase, giving you control from the start.
- Private Apps: Mark selected games as private so they are only visible to you, giving you more control over what you share with friends. This lets you keep your Steam Library visible to your friends, so they can see what you are playing and join in, yet also keep a few of those games just to yourself.
On the topic of making games private, the blog post continues: “Steam has long supported multiple levels of privacy for your Steam profile and your entire games list. However, there are times when you might want to keep a few of the games you own off those lists."
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“Starting today you’ll be able to mark specific games as private and they’ll disappear from anywhere they’d be viewed by someone other than you. That includes your ownership, in-game status, playtime, and activity in that game. This additional control allows you to keep most of your Steam Library visible to your friends, so they can see what you are playing and join in, yet also keep a few of those games just to yourself.”
The latest Steam update should fire up the next time you load its launcher.