Valve is overhauling its Steam Chat feature and the immediate reaction is that it’s essentially Valve’s version of Discord, the go-to chat client for many avid online gamers. The new Steam Chat is not available in polished form—if you want to try it out, you have to download and install the beta client, which Valve has made available to everyone

Source: Hot Hardware – Valve Totally Overhauls Steam Chat Client With Group Tools And Friends List