It was utter horse crap when it released. The military green Steam was among the worst pieces of software ever conceived. So they worked a lot to make it as good as it is today.
worst pieces of software ever conceived
Oh you sweet summer child. You’ve clearly never used Peoplesoft, or the shovelware packed with printer drivers, or browser add-ons from the Netscape days, or the horrible CD burner programs pre-installed on PCs in the 90s…
Well… I did. And i can still say that first Steam app was a steaming pile of crap.
It wasn’t great but I remember distinctly - it worked well enough after a few weeks and I’ve literally never missed a day playing since. Compared to other game ‘services’ it stays out of the way, doesn’t eat memory and works. at the time, I worked for a software company that shipped physical box copies and tried to convince them that this was the future - nope. It was a fad or for games only. Sigh.