Steam’s Game Log feature is out beta and is now available to everyone on Mac, PC and Steam Deck, Valve announced. It provides a native tool for recording gaming sessions and also offers basic editing tools for trimming clips. Users can either run it in the background or manually start or stop recording. In addition, there is a replay option that allows you to quickly review recent recordings. You can then add markers for key moments, and if the game supports Game Recording’s Timeline feature, Steam will add its own markers.
The new feature eliminates the need for third-party drivers or software from NVIDIA and AMD. Since the tool was first introduced in June 2024, several games have officially supported Timeline and event markers, most notably Valve’s own. Counter-Strike 2 and Dota 2. Third-party developers can also implement features using the Valve SDK.
Valve says that if your system doesn’t have a GPU, this feature will minimize your resource usage.
Steam Game Recording is designed with the goal of taking as little computer resources as possible from the game you’re playing. It uses NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards to eliminate many of the performance costs of video production. When run on systems without those graphics cards, the system’s CPU is used to generate video recordings, which can have a noticeable impact on performance.
Clips can be exported as MP4 files, sent to other devices, shared to mobile with a QR code, or shared via a temporary link on Steam that anyone can view. You must update Steam to get the new feature. Then go to the Game Recording section in the settings and turn on the function. Note that it is available on Windows 10/11 and MacOS 10.13 or 10.14.
