Valve seems to have quietly added a Steam function that folks have been asking about for a very long time now: the flexibility so as to add a sport to your library with out having to obtain it. Which will appear to be a small factor (and it’s, actually), nevertheless it’s one thing gamers have solely been in a position to do prior to now through workarounds that did not make for essentially the most handy strategies. It is a function that is just about solely helpful everytime you’re downloading free-to-play video games, nevertheless it does appear to have a number of makes use of outdoors of that, too.
This new Steam function wasn’t publicized in any kind of patch notes for Steam this week, so this stealthy function was solely observed by individuals who shared information of it on-line after their discoveries. Twitter consumer RobotBrush, for instance, screenshotted the choice within the picture under (which you might have to increase) that reveals the same old “Play Sport” button beside a brand new one that claims “Add to Library.” Fellow Twitter consumer Morwull contextualized this for those that may not have understood what was occurring from the primary tweet alone.
Steam has added “add to library” button while not having to start out set up course of. At lengthy lengthy final. https://t.co/rO5ywsJHLo
— Alejandro LL. (@Morwull) August 13, 2022
As others identified within the replies there and in different threads the place this function was mentioned, this Add to Library possibility was already obtainable to a level. There wasn’t a devoted button for this motion, and to attain an identical impact, gamers might finish the obtain of a sport on the first affirmation window that pops as much as have the sport added to your library however not downloaded at the moment. That workaround has primarily been condensed now into the one button you see pictured above.
For paid video games, this would possibly not actually be useful seeing the way you’d should buy the sport anyway earlier than including it to your library. However contemplating the prevalence of free-to-play video games these days with no finish to that monetization technique in sight, this function will solely be extra helpful as extra free-to-play video games launch. It’s going to even be helpful when claiming free DLC for a sport you already personal.
One caveat to that is that it does not look like an possibility obtainable on the Steam web site presently and is just discovered inside the Steam app itself. It is also unclear if this Add to Library button is current on video games which can be briefly free-to-play or free-to-own seeing how there are not any video games being promoted that means on Steam presently, however these gives are by no means far other than each other, so we’ll see quickly if the button does certainly work that means, too.