$10 million in royalties paid to item creators to date

Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 item creators can now give back to the folks who helped them create content for the Steam Workshop. It's pretty straightforward: when submitting to either game's Workshop, they simply choose from a list of companies, organizations, and individuals they'd like to get a portion of revenue earned from sale of the item.

Valve says it got feedback from creators who were "looking for a formal way of recognizing and rewarding the toolmakers and service providers that have helped them," hence the new option. The company also wants input on who else should be added to the revenue-split list, which features the likes of Blender, Polycount, and individual tutorial creators. Very cool.

And, to be clear, "The contribution will be made from a set percentage that is redirected from Valve to the toolmakers, not taken from the item creator's royalty."