Valve has released the highly anticipated chat update for their Steam client, and it brings a host of changes to the social component of their game distribution platform.
While chatting and social features on Steam haven’t changed much in literal years, the new update adds things like group chats and an expanded friends list, where you can divvy up your friends by games and even parties.
Here’s a look at what the client looks like once you’ve updated:
The new features and layout are quite similar to Discord, a gaming chat service that launched back in 2015 and has been getting quite popular (we have a popular Discord server as well). The new friends list will let you pick favorites out of your friends, as well as see more info regarding the games they’re playing.
The new Steam chat update is a small update in comparison to the upcoming overall update to the entire Steam user interface, however that update has no semblance of a release window.