Valve Introduces Steam Trading Beta

Valve has introduced the Steam Trading Beta into its popular distribution service, allowing users to trade in-game items and Steam gifts between accounts. Upon activating the beta through the Steam settings tab, players are provided with an inventory on their community page which contains tradable in-game items and games which have not yet been activated. These items can then be traded with anyone on your friends list via a new trading system, during which both players must agree to the trade. Currently Team Fortress 2 is the only game supported, although Portal 2 is set to be added to the scheme "reasonably soon" and several third-party titles will be added in the coming months. Valve also noted that a new checkout option has been added to the Steam Store, which allows users to save games that are purchased for future trading. The company introduced a store for virtual item purchases and player-to-player trading in Team Fortress 2 last year, with most items selling for up to $4.99. It has also been tinkering with the Steam client recently, with an update last month that saw the platform receive new server and client code as a means of improving download speeds for its users.