Steam Audio is Valve's attempt at helping developers create more realistic sound in games

Valve wants to improve the audio experience in games with Steam Audio.

Steam released a new software dev kit today called Steam Audio. The free SDK, is available now to download and works on PC, Linux, macOS, and Android.

Steam Audio, according to Valve, is a physics-based audio solution that aims to recreate a realistic behaviour for sound in games. Although it's designed for VR, any game can utilise it.

The SDK includes a number of very exciting features that should improve the fidelity of sound in games. For instance, Steam Audio will take into account the type of objects in the room, their location, and whether or not sound should be echoey in these scenarios.

Valve hopes this will save developers the time it takes to go into each level and adjust occlusion and other factors by hand. The SDK already has plugins for major engines such as Unity, Unreal, and other middleware software.

Steam Audio is royalty-free, and isn't made for any one specific VR headset. You don't even need Steam to use it.