Steam developers were given a heads-up over the weekend that Valve’s online marketplace is about to be getting some much-needed changes to the way it displays games and new content.
While the post on Steam itself is private and restricted only to developers, NeoGAF user Nzyme32 has shared its contents on the messageboard, and they detail stuff like a “visual refresh” for the main store page and fresh attempts at tailoring Steam’s recommendations to stuff you might actually be interested in.
Some of the highlights include:
Home Page Visual Refresh: The Steam home page will be getting a visual refresh to use bigger game images in some places, add some new ways of surfacing games, and remove some visual clutter.
Friends Activity: We’re adding a prominent new ‘Popular Among Friends’ section right to the home page that will highlight what your friends have been buying and playing.
More Steam Curator Options: We’ve noticed that more than a few Steam Curators are using the curator feature to provide valuable information about games, while not necessarily recommending the title. We’re going to give Steam Curators the tools to indicate whether their post is recommended, not recommended, or simply informational. This helps us better understand whether a curation should be used to promote a game on the front page of Steam, or if it’s intended to be informational that should primarily appear on the individual product page.
That last one is particularly interesting, given the popularity of groups like the Framerate Police. It also appears to be the option most prone to manipulation (and the punishment of games) from angry crowds of angry internet people
Valve say they will be “planning to roll out the update in a few weeks”. You can check out the full list of tweaks and introductions here, with the caveat that “All this is subject to change to some degree in response to [developer’s] feedback and suggestions.”
Comments
20 responses to “Looks Like Steam’s Store Is Getting An Overhaul”
more and more big publishers moving off steam… go to look and their is just dust and fluff in upcoming
this change could put the final nail in the coffin, who am I kidding its already almost totally kaput.
what happend? maybe the bloat and toxic env.?
That was a hard post to read.
Steam isn’t dying. Yes, some big names are working with their own system (EA, ect) but Steam has such a massive userbase, leaving it entirely is a disaster.
G2A’s system of reselling CD keys is screwing smaller companies with the buying CD KEys, selling them on, then making charge backs to not just get their money back but make Dev’s pay the chargeback fees, is making their own personal stores not that lucrative either.
the massive userbase is because of two games only
CSGO and DOTA
wouldnt call that healthy, too much bait bloatware as well. flood of anime games trying to take teenagers money
and hey… I might just start downvoting regular users for no apparent reason as well if thats the game this site wants to play
Your right you know, steam only had 12,000,000 active users on today its defiantly going downhill.
Users are not an indication of why steam is dieting. What is, is Valves observed take on the way they curate there store. Or rather, the way they don’t. Quality control is key to a good environment. They don’t have that any more, and now we have indi games made by devs who think being on Steam will make them rich, and its not going to change until Valve gets some GOD DAM BALLS.
Uplay and Origin are both better than STEAM, simply because there not letting any old trash on there platforms, and I hope to the god if video games, that it NEVER happens.
it is going downhill…. I seen it coming a mile off. 12 mill is small as for all the supposed dominance it has.
thats like one game
if you rule out DOTA and CSGO and really have a good look at the numbers trending now, its a pittance
wat, publishers try and get off steam so valve don’t get the 30% cut, everything else is on steam
yes every small game they can gets put up…. its washing out steam to the point hardly any A rated games are on there
Bet I still won’t be able to find games with Steam though.
…Although that doesn’t really matter since I avoid buying games through Steam as much as possible. Means my review ratings won’t get counted towards a score but I don’t get ripped off and pay a higher price that way.
When was the last time you paid RRP on Steam though? I’m yet to buy a game on Steam for more than $5 … everything comes down eventually … everything. As for game variety, most of the AAAs distribute via Steam, even first party Microsoft studios are sending their games there (after a healthy embargo from the Windows Store) – I don’t know what you really mean? (Not griefing; just confused by what you mean you can’t find games … it’s not the first time I’ve heard that complaint).
Cant find games as in if you go to Steam looking for a game to play without having a specific one in mind it’s almost impossible to find what you want. You can do a search and sit there for hours checking games and still not come up with what you’re looking for. I’ve done it a number of times with friends looking for games to play together and we usually give up.
There would be numerous games on Steam that would meet what we’re looking for but due to the sheer volume and the way its displayed we can’t find what we want. So its find the game elsewhere and just check Steam for price. Steam is always overpriced unless they’re having a sale and even then it needs to be around 70% off to make it worth it.
Hence I end up buying my games elsewhere. As for the last time I paid RRP on Steam…it was either Enter the Gungeon or Stardew Valley. I know Gungeon came out later but can’t remember if I bought that through Steam directly.
Tend to mostly be indie titles I purchase on Steam if any. The AAA stuff I can find cheaper elsewhere.
Cool thanks. It’s actually an interesting insight into how ‘core’ PC Gamers use Steam (I tend to consider myself a ‘console first’ player … don’t judge :P) … I’ve never really ‘browsed’ before, I tend to seek out specific games, add them to my Wishlist and work from there during a sale, but your approach makes sense for your particular use-case. Cheers.
Great, more stuff I don’t care about is being added/changed to make finding the things I do care about even harder… I don’t want information overload, I just want to know the things I want to know which are primarily:
* What came out today?
* What from my wishlist is on sale?
* What’s releasing in the next week that’s on my wishlist?
It’s tedium, but you can view things on sale in your wishlist, at least I can. http://puu.sh/ro2fm/21ba171797.png Though I wouldn’t mind having a “sort by release date” option with a “not yet released” filter too. <3
The easiest way to see what on your wishlist is on sale is just to view your wishlist.
Any game on sale will have the sale price and the green % off label cc @germinalconsequence
http://store.steampowered.com/search/?sort_by=Released_DESC&os=win will show you all new releases or http://store.steampowered.com/search/?filter=popularnew&sort_by=Released_DESC&os=win will show just the popular new releases
A bunch of stuff like What’s releasing in the next week that’s on my wishlist? would be helpful. I really want multiple wishlists to be added
Being able to use multiple f*cking tabs in the Steam browser would be nice!!
I didn’t even know I wanted this. Now I do and I’m angry I can’t have it.
That’s been something I’ve wanted for a long damn time.
It just bugs the hell out of me when I’m browsing games and I see several on a page I want to check out, but I can only click on one, and when I’m done, I can’t just click back, because my previous page always seems to have expired (especially when I’m in the checkout), and if I add it to the cart, the only other option is the ‘back to store’ button, and then I have to begin the search from scratch.
The Steam UI has desperately needed a streamlined update for years now, if only to make it’s easy of use in line with regular browsers like FF or Chrome (et al).
Did you know that if you middle click a link in Steam it opens it in a new window?
Not exactly tabs but still useful.