Steam, Valve's digital distribution service, will host a range of creativity and productivity applications along with the existing range of games from September 5.
No details on exactly what software we can expect have been revealed, but in a news post on the Steam website Valve says that many of the launch titles will make use of Steamworks features like simplified installation, automatic updates and cloud saving.
"The 40 million gamers frequenting Steam are interested in more than playing games," Valve's Mark Richardson said. "They have told us they would like to have more of their software on Steam, so this expansion is in response to those customer requests."
Developers will be able to submit their applications through Valve's recently announced crowd-voting system, Greenlight - which may result in some interesting content making it to market - as well as directly to the publisher through the usual channels.
The announcement further bolsters Valve's market expansion as it looks to move into the living room with Big Picture Mode (and, possibly, a Steam console) and Steam Linux. It may also herald the beginning of other types of content becoming more prominent on the service, such as music and video (at the present time, you can buy game soundtracks, and Indie Game The Movie was also made available) which Valve proposed back in 2008.