Valve, game developer and operator of the massive Steam digital-retail service, has some secrets that it wants to share with you — wait, you’re a game developer, right?
The company announced today Steam Dev Days, a two-day developer conference for studios to share information. It is planning to hold the event Jan. 15 and 16 at the Washington State Convention Center. Developers can register now for a $95 fee.
“Developers will share their design and industry expertise, participate in roundtable discussions, and attend lectures by industry veterans on topics ranging from game economies to VR, Linux/OpenGL, user-generated content, and more,” reads the Steam Dev Days announcement page. “Developers will also have direct access to Valve’s Steam Team and will be given a chance to test-drive and provide feedback on SteamOS, prototype Steam Machines, and Steam Controllers.”
Valve plans to reveal the full speaker and session schedule as it nails down the details. It also plans to archive each session and put them online for reference.
This is Valve, so — unsurprisingly — Steam Dev Days is an off-the-record event. That means no press. That only makes me more suspicious that they’re going to talk about Half-Life 3.
Valve’s new conference is another step in its push to become a self-sustaining gaming platform. The company recently revealed its SteamOS and Steam Machine consoles meant to liberate the digital-gaming service from Windows. Now, like Apple and Microsoft, the publisher is planning to hold a developer conference to encourage the people who make games to work within its ecosystem.