Valve's appears to be looking to compete with Amazon's Twitch with the launch of a new streaming service for its popular PC gaming service Steam.
Dubbed Steam Broadcasting, the service provides a social experience by letting players broadcast gameplay and watch their friends play without leaving, according to International Business Times. The public option lets any viewer watch another gamer's stream, and viewers will be able to watch streams on Chrome and Safari browsers as well.
The launch follows almost three months after Amazon bought Twitch in a deal worth $1 billion. Steam will also have to compete with Major League Gaming, an e-sports company that also has a streaming service.
Twitch, which debuted in 2011, holds the top spot among streaming platforms, letting users share gameplay footage while hosting and promoting major channels that show e-sports events and tutorials from top-level players, The Guardian reported.
Currently, Steam Broadcasting will only let users stream content from a Windows 7 or 8 PC, but the company promises that support for Mac and Linux operating systems will be coming soon.
Users won't be able to save streams to watch later since the service, as of now, only allows broadcasts to be viewed live, International Business Times reported.
Steam Broadcasting's launch appears to show Valve's interest in the e-sports market, as the company held its competition in July, called "The International," which had gamers play multiplayer battle arena game "Dota 2" for three days.
