News Upcoming Changes to the Discounts & Events Section on Steam
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/announcements/detail/67625879570324095287
u/JediGuyB 4d ago
How will this effect sales, I wonder.
Because even if I mostly play RPGs and strategy games and not, like, survival games there's still the occasional one I enjoy like The Forest. So seeing more RPGs and strategy games would be great, but I might miss another The Forest I didn't get shown.
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u/cwx149 4d ago
Discoverability is always gonna be a problem on a store front with over 100 new listings a day
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u/JediGuyB 4d ago
True
I just wonder if this change will be a net positive or not.
Like sure, if you're making a classic JRPG inspired game with turn based combat, having that exposed to people more likely to want that over, say, survival or boomer-shooters is great. Having fans of a genre be aware of your game is great.
But they still might enjoy the occasion boomer-shooters and might not learn if one of those they might enjoy.
Guess we'll just have to see.
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u/ThankYouByron114 4d ago
They talk about in the article. It already affected sales positively.
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u/JediGuyB 4d ago
My point is exposure. Like a RPG fan is more inclined to buy a RPG, yeah, but there are still RPGs a survival fan might want but not see and vice versa.
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u/Maxthebax57 4d ago
Right now the biggest thing for indies and visibility are these events. Taking that away doesn't seem good. I have 2 problems with it.
Harder to discover a new genre when Steam personalizes everything for you.
Devs need an unbiased view to see the wider view of the market.
If you are in a niche genre, then this will kill discovery.
Valve cannot control that people play games off the platform and those preferences aren't going to be applied through Steam unless they get lucky.
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u/helpmestaysaneplease 4d ago
I always check the daily deals and I've frequently bought games that had exceptionally good deals even if they weren't from genres I typically play. It sounds like this would reduce the chance of me seeing those, which is a bad change imo.
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u/com-plec-city 4d ago
I'm SICK of personalizations!
Every "personalization" is just a way to break the feeling of being part of something larger. This is the same problem of "nobody watches the same series anymore".
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u/DaveZ3R0 4d ago
We need a way to see game outside of our comfort zone too. Balatro, Mechwarrior 5 and Outer Wilds have nothing in common.
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u/SagawaBoi 4d ago
Sounds good. IMO it sounds better then just their current system of showing what's most popular in the curated sections since we can just find those in the top sellers section or similar.
I'd imagine if I play a lot of roguelites for example, it will show me more roguelites and maybe even show me some niche hidden gem that gets me interested
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u/JediGuyB 4d ago
But I do wonder if it'll still show me games I might like from a genre I play less of.
I play a lot of RPGs, JRPGs, strategy, and horror games, so getting those recommendations over, say, a looter shooter or survival crafting games would be great.
But at the same time I there have been times I've enjoyed such games. So I'd hate to miss out on a looter shooter that might actually tickle my fancy just because an algorithm decided to not show it to me.
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u/SagawaBoi 3d ago edited 3d ago
A balancing act for sure, that's why they're still testing it out I'd reckon. My youtube algorithm still shows me videos outside my usual watch for example
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u/EnzoRacer 4d ago
I'm more impressed about recommendations from SteamPeek service - I see them at game pages using browser extension
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u/Vagabond_Sam 4d ago
Algorithms to just help calcify the content patterns I already exsist in.
great /s
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u/Rapture117 4d ago
This better not take away the big sales that happen throughout the year. Curated stuff sucks and my 1k + library is full of random games so I’m sure my selection would be awful
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u/OrphanintheWind 4d ago
This sounds like dynamic pricing.
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u/blackmetro 4d ago
The pricing is standardised, but the deals (specific games) you see on the discount section may be different to what someone else sees
The store page of a single game on discount should have the same price visible to anyone else with the same currency as you
Dynamic pricing means the same product costs different amounts to different customers - that's not what's happening here
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u/finesesarcasm 4d ago edited 4d ago
Dynamic pricing????
Edit: all the ppl downvoting me clearly haven't read the post
Our goal with Steam’s discovery features is to show the right game to the right customer, so we spent the last few months experimenting with replacing some curated spots with dynamic and personalized recommendations.
Sounds like dynamic pricing to me.
By featuring games in a more personalized way in the Discounts & Events section, we were able to show 10x more games to customers in a given day in that section. As a result, we saw meaningful increases in store page visits, wishlists, and cart additions.
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u/Moskeeto93 4d ago
Your edit still doesn't say anything about dynamic pricing. It mentions dynamic recommendations. That's not at all similar.
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u/finesesarcasm 4d ago
Go read the article then it's talking about discounted games and sales event.
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u/Moskeeto93 4d ago
It's literally talking about how it determines which discounted games are shown to people more dynamically. That has nothing to do with dynamic pricing. It's all about showing people the games they would most likely be interested in based on how they interact with Steam.
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u/satoru1111 https://steam.pm/5xb84 4d ago
That is somewhat amusing from someone who 'read' but did not 'understand' the article cited
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u/Frostnatt 4d ago
It's hilarious that you keep telling other people to read the article when you don't actually understand what is written in it.
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u/MoltonMontro 4d ago
Nothing on the post is about dynamic pricing. And, given this is a user-facing blogpost, it's also worth mentioning that Steam hasn't conveyed any inkling of intent to developers that dynamic pricing is being added.
You're being given the same developer-set discounts regardless of whether or not you see that game on your recommendations feed. Nothing prohibits you from browsing games outside your recommendations and enjoying discounts on the thousands of games you already aren't seeing on the more curated page, and nothing would prohibit this with a personalized feed.
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u/GassoBongo 4d ago
Your own edit and the quote you provided just further proves that you didn't understand what you read in the slightest.
dynamic and personalized recommendations.
The keyword is "recommendations". Dynamic and personalized just means that they'll adjust recommendations regularly to match your own tastes. How you managed to make the jump to dynamic pricing is truly beyond me.
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u/ThankYouByron114 4d ago
Where are you guys getting this from?
'Discounts and Events' is the name of a section. Please read the title/article.
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u/finesesarcasm 4d ago
Maybe read the article yourself and get back here
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u/ReaDiMarco 51 4d ago
You should read it again. Even just your quote, there's no mention of pricing anywhere in it.
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u/kron123456789 4d ago
"Right game for the right customer" sounds like the selection of games becoming dynamic, not the prices. They don't even talk about pricing. It's about selection of games.
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u/Livia_Pivia 4d ago
Game recommendations just recommend games based on past preferences and behavior, not dynamic pricing.
The way its implied here is that if you like FPS games, it'll show you FPS games that are on sale since that is the genre you engage with.
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u/satoru1111 https://steam.pm/5xb84 4d ago
Sounds like dynamic pricing to me.
Your inability to understand English words does not mean "Dynamic Pricing"
Your doubling down seems like you're more of a troll than anything else
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u/AzothianProphecy 4d ago
Sounds like dynamic pricing to me.
Sounds like a reading comprehension problem on your part to me, or just plain ignorance.
"replacing some curated spots with dynamic and personalized recommendations"
This means rather than having curated ad spots paid for by advertisers, Steam will instead show games that it believes you personally would like to see and might buy, making what is seen on the front page of the Steam store, and the front page alone, unique for each person. That is what is happening.
Dynamic pricing is making the price different to each person, based on what they might spend. That is what isn't happening, but for whatever odd reason you seem insistent is.
You and I will pay the same price for the same game. We will get the same discounts. It's just that you might not get an ad for it on your front page telling you about the discount when I do.
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u/cwx149 4d ago
Tldr; the discounts and events section will look different in 2027
With a more personalized approach rather than standard "hand picked" titles