Canonical, Valve, and probably Red Hat, should work together to integrate Steam with the strong package management mechanism.

The package management system is a fantastic way to install and update software. Canonical have already shown that they can integrate with commercial partners to easily install their software in Ubuntu. Epic Games and id (whose games are available through Steam) have already shown their willingness to release Linux clients for their games. That software is installed through scripts that may or may not run on a given Linux distribution. A package to install the software would help enormously, and could create the usual menu entries. By enabling the distros to handle the packaging of the software, these games can be more easily installed (and potentially purchased) by Linux users, and updates can be handled automatically in the usual package management way.

Game publishers are wary of counterfeit software installation, and DRM like SafeDisc or Starforce have obvious flaws that make them undesirable. Steam's central authorisation approach strikes a balance that appears to be acceptable in the minds of many developers and users. While many developers may not see that doing a full Linux port of their game is worthwhile, if the installation and distribution of their software has already been handled, and they are using one of the game engines that have already been ported (such as the Unreal Engine, or the Quake Engine), then the amount of work that they have to do is significantly reduced. This will also serve to show how much demand there is for users to purchase and play their games on Linux, which may spur other developers to make the effort.