Steam is turning into the App Store and that's OK

Steam changed the video-game industry in the same way Netflix changed television. Digital distribution was a natural evolution for gaming in the early 2010s, allowing PC players to skip the midnight-release lines at Gamestop and purchase new titles with the click of a button. While Steam wasn't the first hub to offer digitally distributed games -- Valve debuted it in 2004 -- it quickly gained a massive following and by 2011 was undoubtedly the largest platform for finding, buying and playing games on PC, Mac and Linux. Steam is Netflix on pixelated, interactive steroids. Even consoles eventually followed Steam's lead, becoming more connected and relying less on physical discs with each new generation.