Beta begins for revamped Steam library

Valve has started an open beta for its new Steam library, which it says has been revamped to make it “better looking, more relevant, and more powerful.”

Steam users can participate in the open beta free of charge over on the library update page.

The new library home gives users quick access to game updates, recently played games, friends activity and collections.

Steam users can find out what games their friends have been playing on the library home page, and see what games they are currently playing from the games list.

The new library also makes it easier to see if a game has been updated and, with the new events feature, what that update is.

“Odds are, you’ve got games in your library that had incredible updates or limited-time events and you never even knew,” Valve said on a blog post.

“We wanted to strike a balance between an in-library event feature that let you know about all the great things happening with the games you already own without bombarding you with notifications.”

Developers now have access to all new event creation tools that will feed directly into the new library, Valve said.

Valve launched the Steam Link app for iOS devices in May, a year after it arrived on Android. The app enables users to pair an MFI or Steam controller to an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Apple TV, connect to a host computer running Steam via a 5Ghz network or ethernet cable, and start playing Steam games on their chosen Apple device.