A newly registered patent from Valve mentions an ‘instant play’ mechanic, which could allow for games to be playable before they fully download from the Steam client.
Valve’s Steam service is currently the most popular gaming platform on PC, and it may be able to extend its lead care of consoles (of all sources). A newly registered patent suggests that you could be gaming sooner in the near future, outlining a mechanic called “instant play.” Players would be able to boot up their newly purchased game before it fully downloads from the client. The mechanic allows for “track read operations,” according to the patent document first spotted by SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik.
