Valve decided to take Steam to the next level by allowing developers to offer their game players microtransactions. This form of paying for special products is highly and successfully used in MMOs and social games and will certainly improve the quality of the games we’ll be able to play on Steam.

Not to mention the fact that also the price of these games might drop, since there will be extra ways for the developers to generate income except for the sole sale of the game. Here’s Steam’s announcement of the microtransactions:

“Want to offer your customers a scabbard for their sword? New tires? The latest in night vision goggles? Now you can through microtransaction support in Steamworks. Your item server can now be easily integrated with Steamworks so that Steam users can buy and instantly use the items they want – all without leaving the game.”

Now all we have to do is sit back, wait and see if there will arrive some cool games to Steam, free to play but based on microtransactions. This could be the future of PC gaming!