Now, You Can Purchase Anime from Steam

Steam homepage as of March 2017

Valve have come a long way providing users other kinds of digital contents other than video games. Five years ago, they added productivity software to their catalog. Two years ago, they started to have movie purchase/rental options for their users. And this month? They added anime to their catalog. That's right, anime fans! If you're looking for options to watch anime without dealing with overseas shipment or dealing with legal issues because you watch them illegally (COUGH kissanime.com COUGH), now you can spend your money for anime(s) on Valve's Steam service.

For starters, Steam is a digital distribution platform created by Valve Corporation, an American video game development company based in Kirkland, Washington. The man behind Steam and Valve Corporation in general is Gabe Newell, an American programmer and businessman from Seattle, Washington. He first created Steam in 2002 as a software to help Valve update their existing online games such as Counter-Strike, which remains as my favorite online game of all time. Eventually, Valve became a marketplace for video games, and also as a digital distribution service, and eventually many video game publishers are interested in distributing their game through Steam.

In 2012, Valve have added productivity software to their online catalog. In 2015, Valve have added videos and movies to their online catalog, where users can either buy them, or rent them. Users also have choice whether they want to download their purchased/rented movies or videos so they can watch them offline, or stream them online.

Now, before anime(s) are added to Steam's catalog, there are somewhat like hundreds of anime-like visual novels. This catches Valve's attention. And later on... You guessed it. Valve added anime(s) to their catalog.

Naruto the Movie as seen on Steam catalog

Also, in celebration of anime(s) being added to their catalog, they held "Anime Weekend" last week, where all anime, movies, and some games are discounted for up to 50%.

Unfortunately though, only time would tell how well the anime catalog on Steam grows, since there are only a very few amount of anime are available on Steam right now.

But still, if you are looking for a way to watch anime legally without dealing with overseas shipment, where'd you have to order anime directly from Japan, this might be a way to go. Plus, you can still keep your Steam game library with you while you enjoy this kind of content on Steam.

This kind of distribution is important because it makes easier for people to buy things that came from overseas, without the hassle of overseas shipping, and to avoid to deal with legal issues just because people enjoy anime illegally.

~Mulia Hermudia