Why it matters: Given the enormous size of many of today'southward games and the fact that non everyone has loftier-speed internet connections, downloading a title from Steam tin can be a lengthy and frustrating process. Wouldn't it exist great if we could play them earlier they've finished making their way onto our PCs? Based on a new Valve patent, such a feature could become a reality.

As spotted by SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik, United States Patent 11123634 was filed by Valve in March and published yesterday. It describes a Steam mechanic called "instant play" that would permit users to offset playing a game equally soon as it starts downloading.

The patent describes existence able to "utilize a file system proxy component that is configured to track read operations made by the game executable during a game session." This would allow Steam to prioritize certain game files throughout the download.

The patent also mentions removing unused blocks of game data—perhaps levels players have already completed—to free upwards local resources, as well every bit local prefetching of game data for reducing latency during gameplay.

Consoles have been using this play-while-downloading feature since the PS4 and Xbox One, and it will be familiar to Origin and Boxing.net users. The caveat is unremarkably that only role of the game is playable until the entire title has downloaded. Valve's patent, however, uses the phrase 'without limitation.' Exactly what that entails is unclear, simply information technology certainly sounds promising.

Another intriguing element of Valve's implementation is that developers don't need to add annihilation extra to their games; it would all be handled by Valve and Steam.

Like all patents, at that place'southward no guarantee that the instant play feature will ever become a reality, but it looks as if Valve is preparing to unleash information technology on grateful gamers.