Something went wrong. Try again later
    Follow

    Steam Cloud

    Concept »

    Steam Cloud is a built in feature in some Steam games, it synchronizes game saves, settings and other data to the internet for access from any computer that has Steam installed.

    Short summary describing this concept.

    Steam Cloud last edited by franzlska on 02/01/22 12:17PM View full history

    Overview

    Steam Cloud first appeared in Valve's smash zombie hit Left 4 Dead after being announced in mid-2008. It's a free extension of Steam. What Steam Cloud basically does is allow users of the Steam service to store their saves and settings to a main server. This lets gamers access their saves on different computers after logging in to Steam and start their game off wherever they left it and with the settings they had. This allows for a consistent gaming experience across different PCs.

    The whole process is quite simple: Steam Cloud automatically transfers the changed game file to the main server ( a new save for example). Then when the game is started again the new file is downloaded from the central server and used in the game that is being played.

    Developed by Valve, this service is also being used by other developers like Avalanche Studios for Just Cause 2 and a slew of indie games. Valve has already integrated this feature into its back catalogue of games and in the future Valve hopes to be able to integrate this service in all of its games.

    At E3 2010, it was announced that Steam Cloud support would be coming to the Playstation 3 with Portal 2 being the first game to utilize it and that all subsequent Valve games released on the platform would include the feature.

    sizepositionchange
    sizepositionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    positionchange
    bordersheaderpositiontable
    positionchange

    This edit will also create new pages on Giant Bomb for:

    Beware, you are proposing to add brand new pages to the wiki along with your edits. Make sure this is what you intended. This will likely increase the time it takes for your changes to go live.

    Comment and Save

    Until you earn 1000 points all your submissions need to be vetted by other Giant Bomb users. This process takes no more than a few hours and we'll send you an email once approved.