If you’ve logged on to your Steam account lately, you’ll notice that the client’s chat platform has been given an overhaul, both in its design and functions. The new Steam Chat, which first went into beta back in June, shows a more up-to-date layout, as well as better features.
It’s quite obvious that Steam picked up a few pointers from Discord too. Unlike before, the chat windows are now multimedia-friendly, allowing you to send and see emojis, images, GIFs or YouTube videos without having to open an external link to see what your friend has sent.
Adding multiple friends into a group chat has also been made easier with a long-awaited drag and drop function. That same feature can also be used in the client’s Friends List; Steam users can now easily micromanage other users to a favourite list, or create groups and parties by the game you most frequently play.
Also like Discord, you can now save different group chats that you created or like, and older messages don’t disappear the moment you close the window like before. Even the voice channels are now listed separately in groups, allowing to keep chatting with one group while speaking with another. On that note, all voice and text chat is encrypted and passed through Steam’s servers.
Steam’s new layout of its chat platform clearly shows that the game client is trying to win back some of its flock that use Discord, but that could be an uphill battle. Since its inception three years ago, the app has garnered more than 130 million registered users.
