Wednesday, September 15th 2010
Valve, AMD Team Up to Provide Gamers with Easy ATI Catalyst Driver Updates on Steam
AMD today announced its collaboration with Valve to deliver ATI Catalyst graphics driver updates via its Steam platform, a leading platform for PC games and digital entertainment. Steam users can now detect and install the latest ATI Catalyst driver for their ATI Radeon graphics card directly from within Steam. Valve's most recent Steam Hardware Survey shows that fully 87 percent of DirectX 11 gamers are enjoying ATI Radeon or ATI Mobility Radeon hardware.
"Steam represents an evolution for PC and online gaming, and the availability of ATI Catalyst graphics driver updates directly on the Steam platform can help further enhance the PC gaming experience for users of ATI Radeon products," said Ben Bar-Haim, corporate vice president of software for AMD. "AMD Gaming Evolved and Valve share the belief that 'Gamers Come First' - we now have the opportunity to work together to help ensure the best possible experience for PC gamers."
"Valve is extremely pleased to be working with AMD to provide automatic driver updates for AMD's leading edge products on Steam," said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. "PC gamers demand the most of their gaming hardware and providing these updates automatically will help ensure those playing via Steam are playing at optimal performance."
This announcement is another example of the AMD Gaming Evolved initiative in action. The program, which represents AMD's deep commitment to PC gamers, PC game development and the PC gaming industry, is dedicated to creating the best possible gaming experience on the PC. With auto-notification of driver updates delivered via Steam to users with ATI Radeon graphics hardware, this relationship will provide gamers the opportunity to optimize their PC gaming experience.
Designed to enable high performance, industry-leading stability and an intuitive gaming experience for ATI Radeon graphics customers, regular ATI Catalyst driver updates represent AMD's ongoing commitment to stability, performance and innovation.
"Steam represents an evolution for PC and online gaming, and the availability of ATI Catalyst graphics driver updates directly on the Steam platform can help further enhance the PC gaming experience for users of ATI Radeon products," said Ben Bar-Haim, corporate vice president of software for AMD. "AMD Gaming Evolved and Valve share the belief that 'Gamers Come First' - we now have the opportunity to work together to help ensure the best possible experience for PC gamers."
"Valve is extremely pleased to be working with AMD to provide automatic driver updates for AMD's leading edge products on Steam," said Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve. "PC gamers demand the most of their gaming hardware and providing these updates automatically will help ensure those playing via Steam are playing at optimal performance."
This announcement is another example of the AMD Gaming Evolved initiative in action. The program, which represents AMD's deep commitment to PC gamers, PC game development and the PC gaming industry, is dedicated to creating the best possible gaming experience on the PC. With auto-notification of driver updates delivered via Steam to users with ATI Radeon graphics hardware, this relationship will provide gamers the opportunity to optimize their PC gaming experience.
Designed to enable high performance, industry-leading stability and an intuitive gaming experience for ATI Radeon graphics customers, regular ATI Catalyst driver updates represent AMD's ongoing commitment to stability, performance and innovation.
68 Comments on Valve, AMD Team Up to Provide Gamers with Easy ATI Catalyst Driver Updates on Steam
Install for the drivers through steam, works perfectly fine.
**EDIT**
Updated drivers, comp screen went black, stayed black for 5min, had to manually restart the comp, says I have 10.9's now, and I tried checking for updates again and says they are up to date, so hopefully it installed everything.
I have Windows Vista and GTX280, so for me it gives me some driver back from april... :wtf:
while in the mean time there were several WHQL drivers...
however, since my GTX280 is getting old, I guess this "april" driver is OK, but hey... I like my drivers up to date... :D
From Valve's point of view, I think it helps to entrench their platform as the one of choice over all the others, so they get more revenue from the game publishers, who will tend to go with them more than others.
Also, watch out for the "Apple App Store" walled garden effect that so many people despise, including me. Steam is effectively an app store and can and does control what it deems acceptable for publication - and can revoke products from your library too, which would tend to cause a bit of a public relations storm like Amazon's... In the end for me, it's the least intrusive DRM system I've seen and the only one I can live with. I point blank will not allow securom or similar crap on my computer, to the point where I'll simply not buy the game if it insists on this type of DRM.
From AMD's side, I guess it entrenches the idea that "AMD graphics cards are betta!" over nvidia. I'm not really sure exactly what they get out of this deal, so any suggestions welcome.