Valve has No Plans for Its Own Game Pass, but Wants Microsoft's Service on Steam

Microsoft has been very successful with Game Pass. Similar services are offered by Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, and according to rumors Sony will also soon launch a competitive subscription. Many people wondered whether Valve is going to join the competition in this category. It turns out that it has no plans to do so.

Valve has no plans for a "Steam Pass"

The information comes from Gabe Newell's interview with PC Gamer. In it he stated that:

1. Valve has no plans for a subscription service like Game Pass.
2. However, knowing how the service is clearly popular among gamers, Valve would like Microsoft to make Game Pass available on Steam.

Is Game Pass on Steam possible?

1. A precedent has already been set - a similar subscription to EA Play can be activated on Steam.
2. The problem lies in the fact that the games available on PC Game Pass are different versions than the releases on Steam and therefore they often differ in features and some problems appear only in some of them - for example the recent problems with Total War: Warhammer 3 mostly affect the Game Pass release.
3. The obstacles standing in the way of bringing Game Pass and Steam are not insurmountable, and Newell has admitted that there have been discussions with people from Microsoft on the matter, but no decisions have been made as of yet.
4. The head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, has recently spoken positively about Steam Deck, so the relationship between the two companies seems to be good.
5. An additional problem with Steam Deck would be that it runs on a special version of Linux, while the PC Game Pass offers Windows games. Valve uses Proton, a sort of compatibility buffer, but it is not an optimal solution.
6. It is worth mentioning that Valve and AMD are currently working on drivers that will allow for seamless installation of Windows on Steam Deck.