Valve accidentally put streaming website Steam.tv online for a short time

In the night from Friday to Saturday, Steam developer Valve briefly put the website Steam.tv online. On it, users could watch live streams, use the Steam Chat including voice chat and invite friends to watch a certain live stream together.

The website is now blank again. The only stream to watch was from The International, the major annual Dota 2 tournament organized by Valve. Steam already provides the ability to livestream games for friends and strangers, and sometimes shows live streams of games at the top of the respective Steam Store pages. However, decoupling the streaming components from the rest of Valve’s gaming platform is something new and suggests that Valve may want to compete with Twitch, Mixer and YouTube Gaming.

For now, however, Valve denies this. The website would be intended as an internal test and the aim of the site would be to put The International in the spotlight. Steam.tv was not meant to be public. That’s what a representative tells CNET. The same CNET also managed to take some screenshots of the Steam.tv interface. The public is expected to be able to explore Steam.tv for themselves during The International’s main event, August 20-25.

Image: CNET