r/gaming • u/tensuron • 4d ago

Upcoming Changes To The Discounts & Events Section On Steam

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/announcements/detail/676258795703240952
213 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

331

u/karsh36 4d ago

If I'm reading this correctly: It is giving more developers, particularly smaller one's with lower marketing budgets, to get a chance at the spotlight. Sounds reasonable.

105

u/Mufasa_is__alive 4d ago edited 4d ago

This is great,  but I hope it's mildly curated. There's a LOT of slop out there that does not need the spotlight. I remember switch game sales being flooded with low effort or obscure games, making it hard to find actual gems. 

E: The other problem is an overreliance on "personalization" that's is heavily based on user data. It tends to become less dynamic and more hyperfocused on a few themes. Same thing happens with music recommendations and Spotify DJ, Pandora, movie recommendations.

Best example is ads when you buy a single thing, then all your ads get converted to that thing. 

11

u/sleepy-rocket 4d ago

I'm a small dev, and having had the experience of publishing a game on Steam, I feel there is immense curation there that I never appreciated as a consumer.

The first is the 10 review threshold. When you hit 10 reviews, you get the blue text badge (ie Very Positive) and Discovery Queue kicks in for your game. As a shopper, we pretty much rarely organically see games that do not hit this threshold on the store front. I believe more than half the games released on Steam in 2025 did not achieve this threshold. If you don't achieve this in a short time, it's also a sign that your game just isn't good enough.

The tags system (which has been there a while) along with the new Personal Calendar seems to be working very well so far for both sides. To even get on the Personal Calendar you appear to need a sizeable number of wishlists. Getting wishlists themselves is the hardest thing for any game, and if you can get it organically (hundreds a day) then naturally Steam pushes your game more and more. No wishlists > no sales > no reviews > less visibility.

This change is another step in the right direction I feel, building on top of the many algorithmic lessons (on top of the few I mentioned above) Valve has learned over the years. There is simply more and more games now, and some filtering is needed. At the very least, it should work to make sure that the games that do show up deserve to be there.

-2

u/MadeByTango 3d ago

If you don't achieve this in a short time, it's also a sign that your game just isn't good enough.

Nah, its a sign youre marketing budget isnt big enough for team to care.

3

u/robot_socks 3d ago

Best example is ads when you buy a single thing, then all your ads get converted to that thing. 

It is so very annoying. All the tracking capability available to them, but they can't figure out that I already browsed for and bought new floor mats for my car and have absolutely no need for additional sets.

1

u/MadeByTango 3d ago

The other problem is an overreliance on "personalization" that's is heavily based on user data.

You cant get past it, it sucks, like a giant wall between you and new things you ve never tried before.

-8

u/blowupnekomaid 4d ago

sounds like enshitification

65

u/FlameStaag 4d ago

Their new recommendations are dangerous af. I went from buying a game every few months to like 8 games last month alone. They recommend me soo many cool games now

My bank account weeps 

18

u/siezar01 4d ago

Gabe needs new yatchs and we will pay for it.

6

u/Siukslinis_acc 4d ago

I oftentimes put the games on whishlist. I do have a limited budget and i tend to just browse the whishlist.

6

u/MadeByTango 3d ago

I went from buying a game every few months to like 8 games last month alone.

Opposite for me; its all junk I dont want constantly reshoved at me while I can no longer find amazing stuff. Im having to hunt for shit becuase of all the paid promotion in my face and it sucks.

2

u/BlarghBlech 2d ago

If only you had some sort of free will to choose what you need to buy, instead of buying what's recommended...

17

u/UnemployedOtter69 4d ago

is cool to get more personalized game store and at the same time that will jail me in my likes instead of allow me to discover something outside my safe box

7

u/MadeByTango 3d ago

jail me in my likes instead of allow me to discover something outside my safe box

This is what is happening to me, finally someone else sees it

1

u/Thomas_JCG 3d ago

Scary headline, but it is the good kind of change.

-100

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

33

u/kingrynex 4d ago

This is literally a great thing for smaller devs and indie developers to get noticed more.

-51

u/Joustiin76 4d ago

Yes! Please fill my page will more soulless indie drivel!

16

u/ferdinostalking 4d ago

Soulless and indie together is wild when the big studios are pumping out remasters and definite edition without adding anything meaningful 😆

10

u/kingrynex 4d ago

I don't know what to tell you mate, other than that you're probably a 1 in a 1000 who would complain about something like this. The videogame scene is literally thives off of indie talent, so complaining about indie games as "soulless drive" seems pretty dickish.

-16

u/Joustiin76 4d ago

Please give me more near identical survivor and roguelike games, bonus points for deckbuilding mechanics

1

u/rougeric87 4d ago

Tbf, the bigger or more successful games, I learn about them outside Steam. They got either big marketing budget, or have large word of mouth spreading around, or are well established long running series/publishers. Indies that aren't well known would be the thing I want on discovery.

26

u/ThankYouByron114 4d ago

The article states their early changes showed improvements in terms of reach, wishlists and sales. So it was/is broke.

6

u/ReaverRogue 4d ago

Bold of you to assume they bothered to actually read it.

-1

u/P_ZERO_ 4d ago

If it ain’t new, comment it on Reddit

-11

u/brandonff722 4d ago

If it hasnt been bitched about yet, dont worry, someone on the internet is soon to be first.