Steam

Background

Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront that's owned by Valve. It was originally launched on September 12, 2003 as a software client to provide automatic updates for their games. Later on, the service was expanded to distributing and offering third-party game publishers' titles in late 2005. Steam offers various features, such as digital rights management (DRM), game server matchmaking, anti-cheat measures, social networking and game streaming services, as well as providing the user with automatic game updating, saved game cloud synchronization, and community features such as friends messaging, in-game chat and a community market. In addition to games, the platform also offers other digital content and Valve gaming hardware, including productivity software, game soundtracks, videos and VR headset Valve Index, as well as the Steam Deck.

Note: This page only covers the startup screens of Steam's Big Picture mode and the Gaming Mode feature of the Steam Deck, as well as a beta version of the Steam client made for the 2022 Tesla Model S and X's AMD Ryzen-based infotainment systems with 16GB of RAM running on versions 2022.44.25.1 and above.

Contents

1st Logo (September 10, 2012-)	2nd Logo (February 25, 2022-)	3rd Logo (November 15, 2022-)

1st Logo (September 10, 2012-)

Visuals: On a black-colored background is what appears to be steam in a blueish-color rising from the bottom of the screen with a dot-matrix effect. Then, the logo of Steam fades in and glows. Then, the smoke and the dot-matrix effect fades into a blue gradient background, with the logo stopped glowing.

Technique: CGI, with what seems to be a live-action effect used for the steam.

Audio: A sound of water flowing, followed by two long and four short synth notes.

Availability: First appeared on a beta version of Steam that was released on September 10, 2012 and was officially launched on December 3, 2012. Appears when you enter Big Picture mode on a non-beta Steam client, and can also be bought as a startup movie in the Steam Points Shop.

2nd Logo (February 25, 2022-)

The Steam Deck logo.
Steam's logo.

Visuals: On a black background, there is a blue circle and a white arc, which represents the logo of the Steam Deck. Then, the circle is pressed twice, turning into a white circle as the logo spins with trails. After it spins, the arc turns into a circle, forming Steam's logo.

Variants:

A still variant of the first part of the logo can be seen in the Steam Deck's BIOS screen and when switching from gaming mode to desktop mode.
A prototype version of the start-up screen, which only shows the Steam Deck logo forming into the Steam logo, exists.
On the Steam Deck OLED models, the circle on the Steam Deck logo is orange.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Two beeps representing the blue-colored circle being pressed twice, followed by one long synth note, then one short synth note, and another long synth note.

Availability: First appeared on the launch trailer for the Steam Deck and it can be seen when you turn on the Steam Deck or open the Steam Beta application on the 2022 Tesla Model S and X's AMD Ryzen-based infotainment systems with 16GB of RAM running on versions 2022.44.25.1 and above (which is based on the Steam Deck UI). The prototype version of the startup screen can be seen when turning on the Steam Deck for the first time (although some of the units that were manufactured and shipped out on/after Q4 2022 will show the current startup screen) and it can be found on development kit models of the Steam Deck (namely EV2 and the Design Validated devkits).

3rd Logo (November 15, 2022-)

Visuals: On a blue-black background is grey, blue, purple and white lines tracing a controller. The lines are formed into a controller with a small circle on it. As the screen zooms in, the controller disappears and the lines merge and move in a swirling position, forming a circle. The circle then forms into Steam's logo, similar to the previous logo.

Technique: 2D computer animation.

Audio: Similar to the 2nd logo, but the two beeps were replaced with two long synth notes.

Availability: It debuted on a beta version of the Steam Client on November 15, 2022, and it appears when you open the Big Picture on the latest beta version of the Steam Client by clicking on the Big Picture icon or by typing "-newbigpicture" or "-gamepadui" in the program's command line options.