Valve has joined the nonprofit Linux Foundation, an organization dedicated to growing Linux.

“Joining the Linux Foundation is one of many ways Valve is investing in the advancement of Linux gaming,” Mike Sartain, one of Valve’s Linux team members, said in a statement. “Through these efforts, we hope to contribute tools for developers building new experiences on Linux, compel hardware manufacturers to prioritize support for Linux, and ultimately deliver an elegant and open platform for Linux users.”

Valve chief Gabe Newell last year said that the company would focus on Linux because it wanted to work with a single distribution while experimenting. That came amidst the release of Windows 8, which Newell predicted would be “a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space.”

Earlier this year, Steam for Linux opened its doors to the public, and is now available for free download in the Ubuntu Software Center.

More recently, Valve unveiled SteamOS — a combination of “the rock-solid architecture of Linux” and “a gaming experience built for the big screen,” the company said in September. Third-party providers will be developing Steam machines, some of which are expected to debut at CES 2014.

In addition to Valve, Cloud service vendor Cloudius and the not-for-profit HAS (Heterogeneous System Architecture) also joined the foundation, which has almost 200 Linux Foundation members(Opens in a new window), including Intel, Samsung, Google, Motorola, and Panasonic.

“Our membership continues to grow as both new and mature entities embrace community development and open technologies,” Foundation COO Mike Woster said. “Our new members believe Linux is a strategic investment that allows their markets to evolve as quickly as possible to achieve long-term variability and competitiveness.”

For more, see PCMag’s review of Steam and the slideshow above. Also check out SteamOS: Visionary or Vapor?