Steam.tv "inadvertently made public" while Valve tested updates to its broadcasting system

Valve had the internet in a tizzy overnight when it "inadvertently" put steam.tv live while testing Steam broadcasting updates ahead of The International.

Late yesterday, a link to steam.tv was being shared all over Twitter. At the time, no one was sure what the deal was, as it took clickers to either a blank page or it showed “Welcome to steam.tv.”

It was showing as blank on our end around 5pm ET.

At some point around 8:30pm ET last night, it apparently went live and showed footage of Dota 2's The International. As of press time, it is once again a blank page.

Turns out, no one was supposed to see steam.tv just yet, according Valve. The domain went live last night so the company could test the page, which is an update to Steam Broadcasting.

“We are working on updating Steam Broadcasting for the Main Event of The International, Dota 2’s annual tournament,” a Valve spokesperson told The Verge. “What people saw was a test feed that was inadvertently made public.”

Dota 2's The International 2018 starts on August 20, and many assumed overnight it was a test for a streaming platform separate from the broadcasting feature in the Steam client.

CNET was able to play around with the interface which featured chat tabs and an invitation feature (thanks, GI.biz). The site was also able to use the new Steam Chat functionality, and Chrome's built-in voice chat.

Move along, nothing to see here, we guess. At least for now.