Steam Mobile App Released January 27, 2012

Valve has done quite a suprising thing and released their own Steam application for iOS and Android.  With it, Steam users will be able to access their friends list, read news and chat while on the go.

I wasn’t expecting Valve to do this, but it does make sense.  The fact is that Microsoft has already released a similiar program worldwide to allow mobile access to Xbox Live, and Sony has also released a similiar application for the Playstation Network (although it has not come to North America yet).  Valve obviously intends to continue to extend Steam accessibility past the PC.  We’ve already seen them release console games that have Steam connectivity (Portal 2 for the PS3) and it looks like this is the next volley to continue that expansion.

However, don’t expect to be able to use the program just by downloading it.  Valve is currently not accepting all users into testing this app right now, but if you want a chance at joining this program in beta testing, you will need to have a Steam account and download the program to your mobile device of choice.  Once you log into the app for the first time you will need to verify your device by e-mail, and Valve will add your account to the list of possible beta testers.

You can grab the iOS version here and the Android version here.