An article from Phoronix started a rumors that Valve is working on a Linux version of Steam. The rumor has been going around for about four months now and had a lot of people in the Linux community very excited. Today Valve have officially killed the rumor. And it is not what people wants to hear - there is no Linux version of Steam in development.

Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multiplayer and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. It is used to distribute games and related media online, from small independent developers to larger software houses. Steam also has community features, automated game updates, and in-game voice and chat functionality. [Wikipedia]

GameIndustry.biz did an interview with Doug Lombardi, the Marketing VP of Valve Corporation. In that interview Lombardi has put an end to all the rumors by saying that they are not working on Steam for Linux right now.

Excerpt from the interview:

Question: Final question, and one I'm sure you're not super-keen to answer, but I promised one of our tech guys I'd ask it. What truth is there to rumours that you're also working on a Linux version of Steam? Doug Lombardi: There's no Linux version that we're working on right now.

So, there you have it. Steam is not coming to Linux anytime soon, although games like Counter-Strike & Half Life are coming to Apple!

Phoronix did have some very compelling evidence. So, this flat out denial from Valve is slightly puzzling. What do you think? Discuss in the comments.

[via: TFTS]