Rumor: Could Xbox/Windows exclusive games be coming to Steam on PC?

The gaming community has been buzzing this afternoon due to the recent update to Steam’s beta client. Not because of any new cool features, though. Instead, because reputable Steam community site SteamDB tweeted this image that they extracted from the beta client’s files.

These images shipped with the new Steam Client beta. Filename mentions "SteamU". Original files can be found here: https://t.co/Xea2ZuMCgO pic.twitter.com/fybGy6g6ro

— Steam Database (@SteamDB) February 1, 2017

At first glance, the “SteamU” looks like an update to the UI. However, looking closer you might see some unique titles.

That’s right, the file titled as “ClientExtracted/clientui/resource/images/Placement_Guide.png” lists a couple of your favorite Xbox/Windows exclusive titles like Halo 5 Guardians and Forza Motorsport 5.

Of course, the PC gaming community have already began their debates over the potential of these games coming to PC through Steam. Many agree that the concept art is only intended by the UI designers to give a general idea of game placements. One telltale is that the list of games repeats itself twice. However, some gamers are still holding onto hope. After all, why would a Steam UI designer use titles that they do not have on their market in a placeholder?

On another interesting note, the Lethal Foot account shown on the image has quite an interesting steam id in its url: “Steam Universal”. Further in the files, more images cropped up with this “Steam U” in the image names. As one Reddit user pointed out, this UI has been seen before in leaked images from Steam developers.

Steam may be getting the major UI tweak in the future, but they don’t seem ready to share. Promptly after the discovery, the Lethal Foot account went private and Valve released an updated beta client excluding the controversial files. There hasn’t been an official statement yet.

Valve just released a new Steam Beta build that removes these files. https://t.co/1vC6eTsqzP

— Steam Database (@SteamDB) February 1, 2017

What do you think about Steam’s slip up? Are the games listed in the image related to an announcement for Xbox/Windows exclusive games in the future? Or do you think they were simply placeholders used by a fan? Let us know what you think in the comments below or tweet us @OnMSFT

Thank you for the tip, Going4Quests!