I wouldn't hold my breath. I mean, I'd be all for it but what would motivate Valve to do this?

Nope. Valve do a lot of open source stuff, but why would they open source the client to directly help competitors? Not likely at all.

Nope. Their mandatory closed source client is the thing that forces you into their ecosystem. And their ability to have complete control of that ecosystem to positively tailor the user experience is what's allowed them to dominate the market. I can't see a scenario where they would consider giving that up.

Quoting: denyasisNope. Their mandatory closed source client is the thing that forces you into their ecosystem. And their ability to have complete control of that ecosystem to positively tailor the user experience is what's allowed them to dominate the market. I can't see a scenario where they would consider giving that up.

That's giving the client a bit too much credit, though; I'd say the thing that forces people in their ecosystem is the DRM, and the breadth of the user base they've built over the years, and that's about it. I don't see why the client couldn't be open source, to talk to an API that remains the interface to the locked down DRM.

... it's not as though the client provides specialized libraries, device drivers, & whatnot, that accomplish the relevant tasks (like streaming, chat, the installer, the storefront) uniquely well. It's a decent front end to a well established/entrenched system.

Other companies have worse clients, not because they're unable to figure out Valve's secret sauce, but because they aren't even trying to improve user experience.