Valve Software, developers of popular gaming client Steam, which allows games to be purchased online (often at seriously low prices) and sync them with your Steam Account so that they update online automatically; and in many cases also allow your games, game saves, achievements and so on to be retrievable on other computers, announced today that due to growing customer demand the company is expanding beyond gaming and making "creativity and productivity software" available through its store.

Starting September 5th, Steam will allow users to purchase and download non-gaming software from the Steam Store and link them to their account. Many of the launch titles will take advantage of popular Steamworks features, leading to the exciting prospect that the software, like most Steam games, will automatically update while connected to Steam and may even sync documents or settings wherever you take Steam with you. After the initial launch line-up, the collection of available downloads will be regularly added to with new software on a regular basis.

The below is the official Press Release:

Aug 8, 2012 — Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the first set of Software titles are heading to Steam, marking a major expansion to the platform most commonly known as a leading destination for PC and Mac games.

 

The Software titles coming to Steam range from creativity to productivity. Many of the launch titles will take advantage of popular Steamworks features, such as easy installation, automatic updating, and the ability to save your work to your personal Steam Cloud space so your files may travel with you.

 

More Software titles will be added in an ongoing fashion following the September 5th launch, and developers will be welcome to submit Software titles via Steam Greenlight.

 

"The 40 million gamers frequenting Steam are interested in more than playing games," said Mark Richardson at Valve. "They have told us they would like to have more of their software on Steam, so this expansion is in response to those customer requests."

Exciting, no?

Originally posted on Technically Motivated – For those who don't understand Technology; and those who do. Our Motivation is Highlighting Tech Innovation.