Steam Game Recording is now available for everyone, and it's packed with neat features

An image showing how sharing works using Steam Game Recording — (Image credit: Valve)

If today is remembered for anything it'll be this: Steam Game Recording has exited beta and is now available for all users, edging Steam towards becoming the one gaming app that does everything. The new functionality isn't just a simpler way to record gameplay footage: it has editing too, as well as a useful-looking marker system.

There's a timeline attached to each recording, along which users can add their own markers on-the-go so that important or interesting or controversial moments can be easily watched later. Developers will be able to implement "game-added" markers too, meaning important milestones in a game can be easily earmarked for later viewing. It recalls the way Xbox and PlayStation consoles automatically screenshot every achievement / trophy earned.

Recording modes include background and on-demand: the former will record to a user-specified duration or storage limit, while the latter is toggled off and on at will. Replay functionality is easily accessible in the Steam overlay for super-quick reference, and of course, you'll be able to clip and crop to your heart's desire and easily share with other Steam users (or export and send further afield as an .mp4, if you want).

Since this functionality works via the Steam overlay you can use it for every Steam game, and the functionality is already fully integrated with the Steam Deck. You can even use it for non-Steam games. Conveniently, the recording only captures the relevant game window, so your desktop (and thus your well-hidden obsession with troll dolls) won't be revealed.

Is this, as Andy suggested back in June when the beta started, a death knell for Nvidia Shadowplay? Well, it will be for me. I'm not using two programs when one works just fine. I still do miss Fraps, though. Maybe PC gaming is getting too easy?

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Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.