A Hat in Time will get an online party mode for up to 50 players on May 10th, and Jonas Kaerlev, founder of developer Gears for Breakfast made sure to let people know who to thank for the implementation of this unexpected online functionality. And who is that?, I hear you asking. Well, none other than good old Valve, who have promised to release a new networking API that should let developers use Valve‘s own network, benefiting from DDOS protection and more features that I’m too dumb to understand (here‘s the blog post if you desire to read up on this news direct from Valve).

According to Mr. Kaerlev, having beta access to Valve’s Networking 2.0 API changed everything for his team, as they no longer had to deal with the headaches of trying to create an online infrastructure that could work even when some players had restricted NAT or closed ports. The new networking API solved all of these problems, as all traffic should be rerouted through Steam’s own network, thus letting Gears for Breakfast go all out and create a bonkers fifty player experience that will surely become a mainstay in many groups of friends’ online library (I know I’ll be there day one, as my pre-purchase can attest to).

Now, I’m not usually one to talk about these kinds of things, but the current state of the PC gaming landscape is somewhat abnormal, so I’ll join in on the madness and speak my mind a bit. This story comes right after people like Randy Pitchford attacked Valve saying that they do not re-invest as much money in the PC gaming ecosystem as they take out of it. Such a statement seems to be in direct contradiction with the introduction of this Networking 2.0 API, a (free) addendum to Steamworks’ already strong offering, which includes Cloud Saves, Achievements, support for different VR headsets, Proton (which lets Linux gamers enjoy a surprising amount of previously Windows-only titles), and many more features that I won’t list due to space and time constraints. And I’m not even mentioning Valve‘s hardware efforts (the company is about to launch a VR headset, collaborated with HTC for the Vive, and even released their own controller, which has been almost universally acclaimed by all who used it). So I don’t know, but it would seem that Mr. Pitchford might not be telling the complete story in his effort to paint Epic Games as the saviors of PC gaming. If I’m wrong, please let me know in the comments below.

A Hat in Time Nyakuza Metro + Online Party DLC will be released on May 10th for US$6.99 or your regional equivalent. Pre-ordering this content pack will grant you access to an exclusive 4K wallpaper.