Local peer-to-peer game downloads are coming to Steam and will make the Deck even more useful!

Local peer-to-peer game downloads are coming to Steam and will make the Deck even more useful!
Source: https://twitter.com/thexpaw/status/1611285970325839872

Okay, this is an exciting one, guys. I'm gonna circle back to a story we've been covering since October when Pavel Djundik–the creator of the incredibly useful SteamDB site–did a little bit of digging into Steam's code.

He found strings that seemed to indicate Valve is working on a peer-to-peer download system. Text like "Use LZMA for LAN downloads" (LZMA being a compression algorithm) and "peer content server."

Well, Pavel tweeted out that he's uncovered more to this story on Friday morning, stating:

Last Steam update added some strings for this: > This feature allows your PC to transfer game files to and from other PCs or Steam Decks on your local network, reducing your Internet traffic while downloading or updating a game Can limit to own devices, friends, or any user.

Essentially, this would mean you'd be able to download games on your PC from Steam itself, and then when you want to download that same game to your Steam Deck, you'd get a copy of it from your PC rather than downloading it from Steam.

This is huge as it would solve a TON of issues. Not only would this feature be incredibly useful for anyone who likes playing the same game on their PC and their Steam Deck, but it would allow people who have a Steam Deck to go somewhere with faster internet or maybe a connection with no data cap, download the game, and then come home and have their PC download the game from their Steam Deck automatically.

This is a fantastic feature for Steam to be rolling out and I can't wait to see it in action. Especially with my new mystery build coming soon. Get subscribed so you don't miss that!