Steam.tv is accidentally revealed, and it isn't a Twitch competitor

On August 17 Valve attempted to demonstrate capabilities of its Steam.tv platform privately. However, the company accidentally made the Dota 2 test stream public, causing many publications to assume that Steam.tv was a Twitch competitor. Valve later clarified to the Verge that “what people saw was a test feed that was inadvertently made public.” This surely came as a disappointment to some, as Twitch dominates the streaming market; alternatives such as Microsoft Mixer and YouTube Streaming exist, but Twitch has always been a titan in the market.

Before Valve took down Steam.tv, the Verge noted its characteristics, saying "Steam’s new broadcasting feature looks rather basic from the brief steam.tv appearance" and "It’s not clear if Valve has ambitions beyond just streaming Dota 2 games." In general, publications were very eager to know whether or not Steam would be taking the dive into the streaming market. Steam already allows livestreams via the company's web client but the company's current solution cannot be monetized and has very little traction, and is usually used to share gameplay with friends.

Dota 2's annual tournament begins August 20 and will undoubtedly use Steam.tv. Now that Valve has seen the enthusiasm surrounding a potential entry into the streaming market, perhaps the company will try and compete with Twitch and other websites after all. Steam.tv, while having limited functionality at present time, could be repurposed as a full fledged streaming platform to compete with the likes of Twitch and YouTube.

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