Yes its definitely steam related.

If I switch to steam client beta channel, factorio gives me this crash. If I switch back to steam client stable channel factorio launches normally and works fine. Switch back to steam client beta and it crashes again.

I have not changed anything in steam. Steam ...

Looks like a duplicate of: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=58514

Factorio crashes on launch with the new steam March 7 beta client update. Opting out of the beta program and reverting to the stable client on my system resolves the crash.

The game launches and generates a black window but appears to crash prior to generating the full screen window.

Operating ...