Steam
Steam is a service for distributing, buying, and playing games.
Steam snap
The recommended way to use Steam on Ubuntu is using the snap:
sudo snap install steam
Detailed guidance on using the Steam snap is provided in the official Steam snap documentation.
Steam deb
A debian package is also available for Steam.
The debian wiki is the best source of information on using it: Steam page on the debian wiki.
FAQ
But I heard the snap is terrible?
It had some issues when it launched and the developers have significantly improved the snap since that time.
Many people use the Steam snap today without problems.
Of course, you are free to use Steam however you please.
But... surely the performance is worse?
I don't think this has ever been demonstrated conclusively.
A community member did an interesting comparison between the deb and the snap in 2025.
You can find the performance results in the post on the Ubuntu Discourse: