Hi Nathan,
I am not from Laminar Research; just a flight simmer from downunder.
The steam version of X-Plane is a 3rd party hybrid taking a commercial advantage of the development work carried out by Laminar Research. Laminar does not sell steam. They direct you to another site. Steam does not mix and match with the Laminar version. There is no official connection between either party.
Steam is slow to update and only does when Laminar provides an official release whereas the updates from Laminar, whether it be a beta release or testing release is always available once available.
Steam install differently to the Laminar version. Steam installs X-Plane within a number of generated "steam" directories whereas the Laminar version installs directly to your desktop,your main directry "C-drive" or a location of your choice.
Glenn