Steam Game Recording is a built-in solution to clip and share your favorite moments.
Steam has just launched the beta for their built-in Game Recording feature. This tool grants users the ability to seamlessly record, clip, and share footage directly from any game on Steam.
Various third-party tools fill a similar role, such as Nvidia Shadowplay and MedalTV. However, Steam could make them all irrelevant with a good implementation of its solution.
The most convenient way to save and share clips
The Steam Game Recording beta brings a slew of helpful features for capturing and sharing the best moments from your gaming adventures. Promised functionality includes:
- Saving footage and timeline info as a clip that can be watched, edited, shared, and/or exported later
- Saving an MP4 of your selected clip
- Converting entire recordings to MP4s copied to your clipboard and ready to paste anywhere
- Send a clip to yourself or a friend on another device, whether it be a phone, Steam Deck, or PC
- Send an MP4 via the Steam mobile app or a QR code
- Create a temporary link to an MP4 video
As great as all of these are, they are not unique to the Steam Game Recording beta. Software such as Nvidia Shadowplay, MedalTV, and the Xbox Game Bar have different combinations of some of these features and are all mostly free to use.
However, the Steam Game Recording beta still has one huge advantage over all of these: it's built right into the world's largest PG game distribution platform. According to the official website, the majority of the tool's functionality will be accessible not only out of the game but also in the game. Users can edit, share, and manage videos via the in-game Steam Overlay, which is active by default and regularly used by most players on the platform.
Game integrations
To achieve full functionality across as many games as possible, Steam is making the Game Recording SDK and API openly available for game developers to use. For the average user, this means that the creators of your favorite games will be able to add all sorts of helpful information to make navigating through your clips easier than ever before.
- Events such as kills, goals, or unlocking an item can have clear labels on the video timeline.
- State Descriptions can show the status of the game at any given moment. This could include information such as the player's level, location, and active quest.
- Game Modes allow the timeline bar to change appearance depending on your activity. This would show whether a player is in the menu, lobby, or actually in a match with just a quick glance.
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How to activate the Steam Game Recording beta?
You can follow these steps to activate Steam Game Recording
- Go to Settings
- Click on Interface
- Choose Beta Participation
- You can choose from either Steam Beta Update or the Steam Families Beta
Once you opt into Steam Beta, you will need to restart the Steam Client in order to proceed further.
After this, you can active Steam Game Recording as follows:
- Go to Settings
- Game Recording
- You can choose from any of the available options
- No Recording
- Record in Background
- Record on Demand
Accessing the new Steam Game Recording features requires users to opt into a beta version of the Steam client itself. To do so, head over to your Steam settings, find the Interface tab, and select either beta option within the Beta Participation menu. Once activated, a Game Recording tab will appear in your Steam settings with more preferences and options for the new game capture tool.
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