An enormous leak, reportedly comprising 13 terabytes of Steam depot data from 2003 to 2013, has been discovered online. The data, distributed via a torrent file, is said to contain beta builds for thousands of games, including highly anticipated titles like Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Dragon Age: Origins, and Batman: Arkham Asylum. The exact origin of the leaked data remains unconfirmed, but its authenticity is reportedly being verified by the community, with a catalog of the contents being actively compiled on GitHub.
The sheer volume of pre-2014 data, amounting to 13 terabytes, is significant considering the substantial growth in video game file sizes over the past decade. This leak, dubbed "Steam2," spans a critical period in Valve's history, potentially revealing early development stages of numerous projects.
While much of the information circulating is still unverified, initial reports suggest the presence of a Portal 2 beta. Videos showcasing gameplay from these early versions have begun appearing online. Elan Ruskin, a former Valve developer who contributed to titles such as Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Left 4 Dead 2, Portal, and Portal 2, has commented on the leak. Ruskin stated that any ideas present in the prerelease versions of Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 that did not make it into the final shipped products were ultimately not good ideas.
According to reports from those who first publicized the leak, the data was accessed through a publicly accessible endpoint on Steam's servers. Endpoints are typically URLs used for communication between systems, and while often publicly available, they usually require authorization for access. This has led to speculation about whether the leak is connected to Valve's release of SteamOS in 2013. The leak's data cutoff year of 2013 aligns with Valve's transition to a new storage system around the same time, coinciding with the release of SteamOS 1.0 in December 2013, shortly after Steam's original launch in September 2003.