Valve Are Changing How Steam Works

Summary

Valve is revamping Steam with updates to user reviews, demos, and store pages for a cleaner and more streamlined user experience. User reviews are being reworked to prioritize helpful feedback, while demos have become standalone products with their own pages and reviews. Store pages will be restricted to game-specific content, banning off-site links and advertisements for other games. Additionally, Valve is exploring bringing Steam OS to third-party devices, with ongoing work to support more handhelds, potentially revolutionizing handheld gaming with improved performance and battery life.

Takeaways

• 😀 Valve and Steam are undergoing a 'clean' with updates on demos, store pages, and user reviews.
• 🔄 Steam user reviews are being reworked to downplay less useful reviews, using a combination of human moderation and machine learning algorithms.
• 📊 Demos on Steam are now separate products with their own pages and reviews, allowing for more direct feedback and better discoverability.
• 🛍️ Store pages on Steam are being streamlined to focus solely on the game they are promoting, with policies against advertising other games or external links from September.
• 🆕 Valve is working on Steam OS support for additional handheld devices, indicating a future where more devices could natively run Steam OS.
• 🎮 The change in demo handling on Steam led to issues with the 'New and Trending' page, prompting the introduction of a 'Trending Free' section.
• 🤖 Machine learning is being utilized by Valve to help scale human judgment in the review moderation process.
• 🚫 Valve's policy changes aim to prevent store pages from becoming de facto websites for developers, focusing instead on a clear and simple user experience.
• 📝 The script mentions the potential of improved performance and battery life in future handheld gaming devices, thanks to advancements in chip technology from companies like Qualcomm and Apple.
• 🎉 The video also discusses community engagement and the importance of user reviews serving an educational and informative purpose for consumers.
• 🔒 Valve assures that they have no intention of deleting any user reviews, as long as they adhere to the platform's terms of service.

Q & A

What major updates has Valve been rolling out for Steam?

Valve has been rolling out updates that affect user reviews, demos, and store pages on Steam. They are reworking the way user reviews are displayed, making demos separate products with their own pages and reviews, and shifting store pages to focus solely on the game they are promoting without advertising other games or external links.

How will the updated Steam user reviews system work?

The updated system will downplay less useful reviews on the store page. Valve will use a combination of the 'was this review helpful' button, human moderation, and machine learning algorithms to determine the visibility and usefulness of reviews.

What changes are being made to Steam demos?

Demos are now separate products on Steam with their own pages and user reviews. This allows developers to receive direct feedback on demos and improves discoverability for users.

Why did Valve decide to make demos separate products on Steam?

Valve wants to provide developers with a way to receive real user feedback on demos, which can be valuable for development and marketing. It also helps with discoverability, as a demo can gain its own popularity and positive reviews.

What issues arose from making demos separate products on Steam?

The change disrupted the 'New and Trending' page on Steam, as many chart spots were taken up by demos for an extended period. Valve responded by adding a 'Trending Free' feature to give paid games their visibility back.

What is Valve's stance on banning certain types of content from Steam store pages?

Valve is enforcing a policy to ban off-Steam links, advertising of other games, and imagery that replicates store functions on Steam store pages. This is to ensure that store pages remain clear and focused on the game they are promoting.

How does Valve's policy change for store pages affect indie developers?

Indie developers may find it more challenging to redirect traffic from Steam to their own websites or community hubs like Discord. They will need to focus on building their own presence outside of Steam.

What is Valve's current focus regarding Steam OS?

Valve is continuing to work on adding support for additional handhelds on Steam OS. They are also considering third-party device support, but it is not yet ready for out-of-the-box use.

What does the future hold for Steam OS and third-party devices?

While Steam OS is not yet ready for widespread third-party device support, Valve is actively working on it. The future could see more handheld devices natively supporting Steam OS, offering improved performance and battery life.

How does the script relate to the potential impact of new ARM-based chips on gaming devices?

The script suggests that ARM-based chips, similar to those used in Apple's M1/M2 chips and Qualcomm's offerings, could significantly improve the power-to-performance ratio in handheld gaming devices, potentially leading to a renaissance in handheld gaming.

What is the script's perspective on the importance of user reviews in informing consumer decisions?

The script emphasizes that user reviews are crucial for serving consumer needs, providing education, and informing purchasing decisions. It advocates for useful reviews, whether positive or negative, to be prioritized over less informative content.

Outlines

00:00

🛠 Steam Platform Updates

Valve is implementing several updates to the Steam platform, focusing on user reviews, demos, and store pages. User reviews are being reworked to prioritize helpful feedback over memes or less useful content, using a combination of user voting and machine learning algorithms. Demos are now treated as separate products with their own pages and reviews, which can improve discoverability and provide developers with direct user feedback. Store pages are being streamlined to focus solely on the game they represent, with policies against promoting other games or external links coming into effect from September.

05:01

🎮 Steam Demos and Store Page Changes

The script discusses the shift in how Steam handles demos, making them standalone products with their own pages and reviews, which can potentially go viral and receive positive feedback independently of the main game. However, this change initially impacted the visibility of new and trending paid games, prompting Valve to introduce a 'Trending Free' feature to ensure paid games retain their spotlight. Additionally, Valve is enforcing new policies for store pages to prevent cross-promotion and maintain a clear focus on the individual game, which may affect indie developers' strategies for redirecting traffic to their communities or other games.

10:03

🔧 Steam OS Developments and Future of Handheld Gaming

The script touches on Valve's ongoing work with Steam OS, including support for additional handheld devices. While not ready for out-of-the-box use on third-party devices, Valve is actively developing the technology. The mention of ROG Ally keys hints at potential compatibility with future devices. The script also speculates on the impact of advanced chips from Qualcomm and AMD on handheld gaming devices, suggesting a future where handhelds could offer significant performance improvements and better battery life, possibly leading to a renaissance in handheld gaming with Steam OS playing a central role.

Keywords

💡Valve

Valve is a leading video game developer and digital distribution company known for its popular gaming platform, Steam. In the video, Valve is discussed for its ongoing updates and changes to Steam, indicating its central role in the video's theme of digital gaming platform evolution.

💡Steam

Steam is Valve's digital distribution platform, which offers digital rights management, multiplayer gaming, video streaming, and social networking services. The video talks about Steam's updates, emphasizing its significance in the gaming industry and the user experience.

💡User Reviews

User reviews are a critical aspect of the Steam platform, allowing players to share their experiences and opinions about games. The video discusses Valve's efforts to rework and improve the usefulness of these reviews, highlighting the importance of genuine feedback in the gaming community.

💡Demos

Demos refer to demonstration versions of games available on Steam, allowing users to try games before purchasing. The script mentions that Valve has made demos into separate products with their own pages and reviews, which is a significant change for developers and users alike.

💡Store Pages

Store pages on Steam are the individual web pages dedicated to each game, featuring descriptions, screenshots, and user reviews. The video mentions changes to these pages, including a ban on promoting other games or external links, aiming to streamline the user experience.

💡Machine Learning

Machine learning is an application of artificial intelligence that provides systems the ability to learn and improve from experience without being explicitly programmed. In the context of the video, Valve is using machine learning algorithms to help moderate and prioritize user reviews on Steam.

💡Steam OS

Steam OS is a Linux-based operating system developed by Valve for gaming. The video discusses Valve's ongoing work with Steam OS, particularly its potential application on third-party devices, which is a significant development for the future of gaming platforms.

💡Trending

Trending refers to the popularity or increase in popularity of a topic or product. The video mentions a new feature on Steam called 'trending free,' which separates free-to-play games and demos from paid games in terms of visibility on the platform.

💡Indie Dev

Indie Dev stands for independent developer, referring to individuals or small teams who create games outside of the traditional publisher system. The script discusses how changes to Steam's store pages may impact indie developers' strategies for promoting their games.

💡Qualcomm

Qualcomm is a company known for developing and marketing mobile chipsets and wireless communication technology. The video speculates on the potential impact of Qualcomm's technology on handheld gaming devices, suggesting a future where performance and battery life could be significantly improved.

💡Steam Deck

Steam Deck is a handheld gaming device developed by Valve. The video mentions Steam Deck in the context of Steam OS updates and the potential for improved performance with new chipsets from companies like Qualcomm, indicating its role in the evolution of handheld gaming.

Highlights

Valve is updating Steam with changes to demos, store pages, and user reviews.

Demos on Steam are becoming separate products with their own pages and reviews.

User reviews on Steam are being reworked to downplay less useful reviews on store pages.

Valve will use a combination of human moderation and machine learning to assess review helpfulness.

Steam is introducing a 'trending free' feature to separate free games and demos from paid games in visibility.

Valve is banning off-Steam links and advertisements of other games on Steam store pages for clarity.

Steam OS is being updated with support for additional handhelds, hinting at future third-party device compatibility.

Valve is working on tech for third-party devices to use Steam OS, though it's not ready for out-of-the-box use yet.

The ROG Ally X, a device not using Steam OS, is mentioned, highlighting the desire for native Steam OS support on such devices.

The potential for improved power-to-performance ratios in handheld devices with new chips from Qualcomm and Apple is discussed.

Valve's commitment to improving Steam's user experience and store page consistency is emphasized.

Indie developers may face challenges in redirecting Steam traffic to external sites due to new policy changes.

The impact of policy changes on user experience, such as the loss of easy access to community Discords, is considered.

Valve's intention to keep the Steam platform clear and simple for customers is highlighted.

The future of handheld gaming with Steam OS and advanced chips is painted as promising for performance and battery life.

The video concludes with a call to viewers for feedback on the updates and their gaming experiences.

Transcripts

welcome back to the show everyone today

we get to talk about valve and steam

because they're giving steam a bit of a

clean and this will hit all of us we're

seeing demos be a bit different store

pages are shifting and user reviews are

being reworked a bit and there's

actually more than just that valver also

cooking up something with Steam OS that

I think could be kind of huge but we'll

talk about steam first valve have

basically spent a week rolling out

updates in a peace meal fashion they've

been updating the Steamworks blog that

means we have got a lot to break down

today across reviews demos and store

pages and if you'd like even more from

our team go and check out the latest

edition of loading screen over in bell.

games in that we dive into 2025 game

delays because it turns out yes

everything's being delayed to 2025 and

the unfortunate Saga of a mod that

Activision killed just two days before

launch which really is kind of painful

so over there you get tons of exclusive

content our videos without ads and we

get to be secure and sustainable so it's

a big win for everyone and a big thank

you to our supporters with that said

user reviews okay how helpful is review

that is just asy art or a meme that's

not really related to the game well

according to Val there's been over 140

million steam user reviews to date and

uh not all of them are useful so what

they've done is they've updated the

steam user reviews so that the less

useful types of reviews will be

downplayed on the store Page now in a

way we all look at that and think okay

right I mean post memes those are

fine but they're not really going to be

helpful that being said you could also

see a situation where certain types of

reviews that are may be a bit more rude

or a bit more scathing but still could

be of value to a user where those ones

would end up being deprioritized I'm

sure you're all aware of what it's like

when you go to like a product page and

you maybe see it's got three and a half

stars but you scroll down to the reviews

and you sort of think hang on this is

three and a half Stars where are all of

the low reviews why is everything here

glowing so that's absolutely what people

could be scared of here and you could

say that Val would have an incentive to

have games put their best foot forward

to get more sales though of course in

the long run that would probably erode

user confidence and be bad so the way

that they're planning to determine this

is the was this review helpful button so

that's there it's still going to be

counted but there's going to be more

moderation past that so here's what

valve says the steam moderation team

looking closely at a lot of reviews and

some machine learning algorithms to help

scale the human judgment calls so this

is basically just valve trying to tidy

things up you can still leave a negative

post review and that still will be

counted towards the overall like Rev

score valve says as well they've got no

interest in deleting the reviews of any

player as long as those reviews are in

the terms of service here's literally

what they say their indication of

whether they would recommend a game is

still valuable data even if they're not

able to articulate why so that's

definitely a good thing I'm sure there's

some game devs who see a negative review

and a post and think oh man really

but look that negative sentiment is

probably still real and probably still

there now in theory valve have had

something something like this before

with the awards system right because you

know you can put down rewards and you

can put down the funny reward as an

example so you can see Val using those

as a data point but honestly I think

that would be a pretty bad idea at the

end of the day those awards are just a

bit of community engagement a bit of fun

I don't think there's something that uh

really people would want to be to be

used in that manner and that's why it's

good that valve are actually doing some

moderation here like some actual

moderation on top of that so in theory

this should improve things further and

help to avoid a situation where

developers are getting treated un fairly

based on memes hopefully and to be clear

this is only the start valve said that

they're actually working on more things

while they refine this and they

basically say it should end up being a

better customer experience will it be

will it not be I'm not 100% sure but

look I'd rather have useful you know

positive or negative I'd rather have

useful reviews that people have rated as

being helpful um up there at the top

rather than just posts to get lots

of Engagement because people find it to

be funny as much as I'm all there for

the fun like uh I mean it's user reviews

are actually there to serve a bit of

consumer need and to educate and inform

so that's that the next thing then is

demos and it's really interesting what's

happened here so in the past the demo

would just exist within the steam page

of its like its Host Game its parent

game but as of July demos are actually a

separate product on Steam that means

they've got their own page and it also

means they've got their own reviews now

that bit specifically is fascinating to

me because you can put out a demo and

you can get real user review feedback

for that demo not just not just stuff

that's you skimming a forum but actually

people casting a vote I think that's

actually going to be of real high

utility for developers but it's also

going to be quite good for

discoverability this means that a demo

can go out there have its own page

essentially go viral and get loads of

positive reviews so that even is a

really strong part of of marketing for a

game now of course steam is a complex

network of systems one change can impact

others and when Steam change Demos in

this way they actually broke the new and

trending page of steam because with

demos being Standalone products what

basically happened is loads of chart

spots were taken up for nearly a month

by demos now obviously a demo pushing a

full release of a paid game out of one

of the highest visibility areas of steam

is uh is not really a good thing and the

good news here is that valve have

learned the lesson and they've added a

new core feature called trending free so

now paid games get their Spotlight back

but free to play games like say

Supermarket together benchmarking tools

like the black myth uh Wukong one and

loads of demos those are basically away

from the paid area and they now exist in

their own free and trending spot which I

think is just a big win for everybody

the next change then is to steam store

pages so valve wants a store page for a

game to just be a store page for a game

they don't want it to be other things

and that means policy decisions are

being made from September they will be

banning off steam links they'll be

banning the advertising of other games

and any imagery that replicates their

store functions like as an example

having a wish list button like within a

bit of your games marketing or a

screenshot or something like like that

now this was prompted by store pages

that look like this one this was spotted

by the creator of steamdb and what you

can see is links to four other games and

a community Discord now this of course

happens for for Fairly understandable

reasons if you're an indie Dev right

where you going to get most of your

traffic the answer is not your own

website so what actually happens is a

store Page and Community hub for a game

ends up being well it ends up being your

equivalent of a website so if you're a

developer you'll perhaps want to move

people over to your Discord where you

can give a better experience perhaps if

you're a publisher well maybe you'll

want to also in a store Page promote

other games maybe there's cross

promotion there and maybe as a publisher

you think okay well if we're

cross-promoting all of our games and all

of our steam Pages then that will just

be more visibility and more sales for

everybody which is great but of course

From valve's perspective that's just not

what they think a store Page should be

for and when they're thinking about the

customer experience in their platform

they just want it to be more clear and

simple so overall there are some obvious

downsides here if you're a user and you

find it useful let's say a discount for

another game that is related to the game

that you're currently looking at if you

thought it was useful that that discount

could be linked there if you maybe

thought it was useful that you could

have easy access to the community

Discord without having to maybe search

for the developer on like you know X or

whatever platform well yeah you will

kind of lose out and if you're an indie

developer well this certainly means that

you'll have a far harder time

redirecting the massive amounts of

traffic that you can get from Steam over

to somewhere else but I think what this

fundamentally will do is it will mean

the developers will have to think about

sort of building their own castle having

strong social media presence actually

doing things outside of steam I can

certainly see that being more work I can

see that being annoying but the flip

side of that is for a user it means that

a steam page is a steam page is a steam

page they'll all operate in the same way

and you'll have a consistent experience

it could actually be that valve just

sees loads of like user confusion and

stuff like that on Steam and this is

just a way for them to uh make that go

away now steam of course is yes the

platform yes the storefront but also

Steam OS is a Linux drro and this is

where things get kind of fun so valve

are still open to Steam OS on other

platforms and this was captured by The

Verge now you may have seen a lot of

people say oh man I cannot believe that

the Verge had the goal to publish an

article on deadlock the new game coming

out from Val that honestly I think looks

absolutely sick and I can't wait to play

in fact I've uh I don't even know who

but I got a steam notification on my

phone saying that I've been invited to

the play test so um who knows may maybe

I will have to play the game and then

hit the uh hit the Escape key and not

agree to the secrecy thing that being

said I've got way too much value in my

Steam account and I do not want to lose

that but anyway a lot of people

thought the Verge had been blacklisted

but uh that's definitely not the case

because days after that happened The

Verge reached out to Val for comment and

they got a response certainly doesn't

seem like a blacklist anyway what's

happened is Steam OS update notes that

included this added support for extra

Rog Ally keys and this is of course kind

of relevant because the Rog Ally X

launched a few weeks back and it really

is a fantastic piece of Kit I've I've

got a rag Ali the um the base one and to

be honest I think it's really fantastic

even just playing hell divers on it and

the fact that it's got a high refresh

rate screen um as much as the deck OLED

is really nice for you know obviously

having an OLED playing dusk at like uh

the maximum frame rate on that thing

felt great but anyway the problem with

the Rog Ally is it doesn't use Steam OS

it just is using Windows which kind of

blows now what does help you a lot there

is Steam Big Picture Mode which is

actually fantastic and it does lead to a

really good user experience but it's not

quite as good as just how Native and I

suppose console like things are on a

deck using Steam OS now responding to

questions from the Verge valve designer

Lawrence Yang confirmed that they are

still at rating on the tech for the

purposes of third-party devices and

that's the great news here's a quote the

note about rag Alli Keys is related to

thirdparty device support for Steam OS

the team is continuing to work on adding

support for additional handhelds on

Steam OS which basically is confirming

that that's going to be a thing now does

this mean that we can expect uh you know

rapidly being able to duwel boot uh

Steam OS onto one of these things well

no not yet very explicitly not anytime

soon Yang described it as being

something that quote isn't ready to run

out of the box yet and he also did say

that jeel booting and steam deck is

being worked on as well so even though

they just shipped things like Apu audio

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth drivers for Windows

on Steam deck OLED they're very much

adamant that it's not fully done yet and

official support is just not something

uh you know that they're doing so I'm

sure there are ways for uh you know an

enterprising user to do fun things there

but it's not a fully valve backed

experience because even right now say

the audio drivers are not working on the

native speakers of the device they only

work for Bluetooth and headphones so

there are still loads of little kinks

that have got to be ironed out there but

the good news is that's exactly what

valve are doing so we're not quite there

yet but we certainly are getting there

and the one thing that I'll really say

just excites me so much in this is

Qualcomm have entered the race I believe

AMD have as well so one of the cool

things about this laptop that I'm using

or uh well not this iPhone actually but

like the newer ones they are remarkably

strong now I could go and you know have

a whole big discussion about uh you know

about Arm about risk and Y yada y

basically the point is our big fat

chunky x86 processors are uh you know

they they use quite a lot of quite a lot

of power they kick out quite a lot of

heat if you take a look at say um and

look Apple's certainly um Apple Cherry

picks you know whenever you see a graph

from Tim Apple you got to watch out but

the the truth has been like on you know

the M1 M2 you know whatever um MacBooks

they have had a ridiculous battery life

to Performance ratio as compared to an

equivalent Windows machine now what's

been really exciting in is that Qualcomm

have got let's just say a similar class

of chips and those are coming out on

Windows devices right now what's

exciting then is the sorts of power that

maybe you'll see in a modern iPad as

like you know the iPad Pro that's got

the M4 chip well you'll actually start

to see that kind of power uh be

available on the likes of your rag Ally

or your new steam deck and that should

actually unlock a whole new level of

power and performance cuz again whether

you're using the deck or the Ally I I

mean man you can hear those fans

worrying you can see the battery drain

you know you're sitting there worrying

about the wattage uh you know like the

the the the power draw of your chip and

you've got different like power profiles

for your chip a lot of that stuff won't

really matter as much whenever uh you

know whenever we're moving ahead to U

you know something like apple silicon

what Qualcomm are doing and I believe

AMD are trying to compete in that space

as well so this isn't exactly a thing

for now but it is to say that uh well

take a look at the raw gy and the raw gy

X I believe those are still using very

very similar chips what could be cool is

our next version of that could be quite

a bit more of a step change in power to

Performance ratio that combined with

more ubiquitous support for Steam OS

truly could mean that this kind of

Renaissance and handheld gaming that

we're getting that it will only get

better you'll be getting more

performance better battery life similar

prices like honestly the future is kind

of bright and that's why it's really

good to hear that Val are working in

this stuff so that's it for today's

video I hope whole bunch of updates with

valvin steam let me know what you think

and if you've been playing deadlock also

let me know what your time has been like

anyway that's it for me you can catch

more content from me and the team over

at b. games and with that said I'll see

you next time