Steam

Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront that's owned by Valve. It was originally launched on September 12, 2003 as a software client to provide automatic updates for their games. Later on, the service was expanded to distributing and offering third-party game publishers' titles in late 2005. Steam offers various features, such as digital rights management (DRM), game server matchmaking, anti-cheat measures, social networking and game streaming services, as well as providing the user with automatic game updating, saved game cloud synchronization, and community features such as friends messaging, in-game chat and a community market. In addition to games, the platform also offers other digital content and Valve gaming hardware, including productivity software, game soundtracks, videos and VR headset Valve Index, as well as the Steam Deck.

Note that this page only covers the startup screens of Steam's Big Picture mode and the Gaming Mode feature of the Steam Deck, as well as a beta version of the Steam client made for the 2022 Tesla Model S and X's AMD Ryzen-based infotainment systems with 16GB of RAM running on versions 2022.44.25.1 and above.

1st Screen (September 10, 2012-)
Screen: On a black-colored background, we see what appears to be steam in a blueish-color rising from the bottom of the screen with a dot-matrix effect. Then, the logo of Steam fades in and glows. Then, the smoke and the dot-matrix effect fades into a blue gradient background, with the logo stopped glowing.

Technique: The steam rising and the logo fading in and glowing.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): A sound of water flowing, followed by two long and four short synth notes.

Availability: Common. First appeared on a beta version of Steam that was released on September 10, 2012 and was officially launched on December 3, 2012. Appears when you enter Big Picture mode on a non-beta Steam client.

2nd Screen (February 25, 2022-)
Screen: On a black background, we see the shapes of a blue-colored circle and a white-colored arc, which represents the logo of the Steam Deck. Then, the circle being pressed for two times, in which it turns into a white circle as the logo spins with trails that can be seen on-screen. After it spins, the arc turns into a circle, forming the logo of Steam.

Variants:
 * A still variant of the first part of the logo can be seen in the Steam Deck's BIOS screen and when switching from gaming mode to desktop mode.
 * A prototype version of the start-up screen, which only shows the Steam Deck logo forming into the Steam logo, exists.

Technique: The circle and the arc spinning, the arc turning into a circle and forming into a Steam logo. The boot animation is animated in 2D at 60fps.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): It starts with two beeps (which represents the blue-colored circle being pressed two times), followed by one long, one short and another long synth notes.

Availability: Current. First appeared on the launch trailer for the Steam Deck and it can be seen when you turn on the Steam Deck or open the Steam Beta application on the 2022 Tesla Model S and X's AMD Ryzen-based infotainment systems with 16GB of RAM running on versions 2022.44.25.1 and above (which is based on the Steam Deck UI). The prototype version of the startup screen can be seen when turning on the Steam Deck for the first time (although some of the units that were manufactured and shipped out on/after Q4 2022 will show the current startup screen) and it can be found on development kit models of the Steam Deck (namely EV2 and the Design Validated devkits).

3rd Screen (November 15, 2022-)
Screen: On a blueish black background, we see grey, blue, purple and white lines tracing the shape of a controller. The lines were formed into a controller with a small circle in it. As the camera zooms in, the controller disappears and the lines merged and move in a swirling position, forming a circle. The circle then forms into the logo of Steam, similar to the forming animation of the 2nd startup screen.

Technique: The lines tracing and forming into a controller, the controller disappearing, the lines merging and moving in a swirling position, and the circle forming the Steam logo.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): Similar to the 2nd startup screen, but the two beeps were replaced with two long synth notes.

Availability: Brand new. Debuted on a beta version of the Steam Client for Windows, macOS and Linux on November 15, 2022. Appears when you open the Big Picture on the latest beta version of the Steam Client by clicking on the Big Picture icon or by typing "-newbigpicture" or "-gamepadui" in the program's command line options.