Valve's Steam Link app is now on iOS, one year after Apple rejected it

Celeste
Celeste, one of our top games of 2019 on Steam (Image credit: Matt Makes Games)

Valve's Steam Link app has finally landed on the App Store, meaning iOS users can finally beam their Valve-purchased PC games to play on their iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV.

Steam is still the leading marketplace for video games on PC, despite some fiery competition from the Epic Games Store – and the Steam Link app allows for a more flexible gaming experience that doesn't chain you to your PC monitor.

While Steam Link was already available on Android, its fate on iOS was uncertain for a long time, after Apple rejected Valve's bid to join the App Store last year. 

Apple cited "business conflicts" for the failed bid, likely due to Valve's plans to sell games direct through the app – something that could completely sidestep the roster of games in Apple's App Store and take a bite out of Apple's revenue.

Apple may also have been concerned about the effect on its incoming video games subscription service, Apple Arcade, which is launching in late 2019.

The Steam Link app may not be a cause for excitement for you if you don't play Steam games, or are already getting your fix through the App Store's roster of games, but we're always happy to see more ways for players to leverage their existing game library – so they won't have to purchase the same titles across different platforms.

Via Engadget (opens in new tab)

Henry St Leger

Henry is a freelance technology journalist. Before going freelance, he spent more than three years at TechRadar reporting on TVs, projectors and smart speakers as the website's Home Cinema Editor – and has been interviewed live on both BBC World News and Channel News Asia, discussing the future of transport and 4K resolution televisions respectively. As a graduate of English Literature and persistent theatre enthusiast, he'll usually be found forcing Shakespeare puns into his technology articles, which he thinks is what the Bard would have wanted. Bylines also include Edge, T3, and Little White Lies.