Free-to-play games arrive on Steam

Valve has confirmed that its online digital store, Steam, now supports free-to-play games starting with the arrival of five such titles today.

The launch titles are Spiral Knights, Forsaken Worlds, Champions Online: Free for All, Global Agenda: Free Agent, and Alliance of Valliant Arms (AVA).

Get on them quickly and you could be in for free DLC bonuses. "Beginning tomorrow (Weds) with Spiral Knights and concluding Sunday with AVA, each of the five launch titles will offer exclusive in-game content to those who try the 'F2P game of the day' on Steam," explains Valve.

All other micro-transactions within F2P games will be supported by the same back-end system currently in use for Team Fortress 2.

Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve, said: "Free to Play games offer new game genres and game experiences for customers, while offering developers and publishers new revenue opportunities and the ability to reach customers in areas of the world where the traditional packaged goods model is less popular than F2P."

Valve has said that it has started to look at the possibility of bringing Steam to smartphones after an influx of requests. "The more requests we receive, the more we feel the need to act on them," said Valve's Doug Lombardi.

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