Steam Store is getting a major overhaul soon (leak)

[Master Disaster]

Coming from the same place the last few Steam sale leaks have originated from, a developer from the platform has leaked info from a private steam developer group about the incoming changes to Neogaf. 

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Valve invites Steamworks developers to a private, developer-only group on Steam. This serves as a good way to let game makers know of upcoming changes to the store, the Steamworks API itself, and other relevant details.

 

This is also how we sometimes learn bout Steam sales, and even changes to sale formats, ahead of time. Today, thanks to one NeoGAF user, we can see the latest update from Valve, which highlights some key changes coming to Steam’s various store pages.

Starting with the store... 

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The front page will now use bigger images in some places, and get a general refresh to remove clutter. The navigation column on the left will be getting a a number of new links to categories like new releases, top sellers, recently updated, upcoming releases, and specials.

 

This column will expand if you’re logged in, linking to a ‘popular among friends’ category, alongside other curator recommendations from the curators you follow. A ‘top sellers new releases’ section will be added, to specifically feature new games that have reached the top sellers list.

Users will have more control over what they see on the store page... 

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Users will now have more control over the type of content they see on Steam’s homepage, too. Previously, user customisation was limited to each user’s queue of games. Now, you’ll be able to set the type of products you see on the homepage. For example, you can choose to see or not see Early Access releases, software, videos and movies, VR etc.

Next up is new visibility behavior for new & updated games... 

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Another interesting change Valve is making pertains to visibility of new game releases on launch. When this update rolls out, newly released games will appear in a few different ways on the ‘New on Steam’ page and queue. Valve says that while this may result in new releases appearing to a smaller group of players, these players will likely more interested in the product, based on tastes and preferences.

 

The same goes for games that have been available for a while, but keep popping up on the main page due to updates. Valve is also making them more visible to interested customers, rather than the store as a whole. Interested customers include players who already own it, ones who have it on their wishlists, and players who are more likely to be interested, based on preferences.

Finally the curator programme is getting some changes... 

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The Curator programme will also be getting a few improvements. Curators will now have the tools to indicate whether their posts serve as recommendations, or are simply informational, which in turn informs Valve’s algorithms about recommended games on the front page. Users will now be able to see games only recommended by Curators they follow.

 

This extends to a new, Curators-specific section on the homepage that highlights recent recommendations. Another page will be added to feature older titles recommended by Curators you follow.

No word on a release date yet, just "in a few weeks". 

 

https://www.vg247.com/2016/09/26/the-steam-store-is-getting-some-big-ui-changes-soon/

http://www.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1284032

 

Reading through I see nothing that benefits the users, these changes seem to be squarely aimed at selling more products and making more money. Of course there's nothing wrong with a business making money but given valves reputation on the support side I think it's about time they start trying to offer their existing customers a decent level of support. 

[minibois]

2 hours ago, Jorgen297 said:

If it ain't broken, don't fix it. 

While the Steam store is not terrible, I wouldn't classify it as "ain't broke"

[Dabombinable]

21 minutes ago, Minibois said:

Well the Steam store is not the best thing ever, so I wouldn't classify it as "ain't broke"

Specifically Greenlight and Early Access.

[Waqas409]

Does not matter how it will look like because people will get use to it after a while. 

[That Norwegian Guy]

1 hour ago, Jorgen297 said:

If it ain't broken, don't fix it. 

It is broken. I manually went to EVERY. FREAKING. UBISOFT. GAME. and clicked "not interested" thinking that they would never show up on the store front anymore, but NOPE. They still show up. That's the point where I completely stopped looking for games on Steam, because my blood just boils with rage. Only during store-wide sales will I go into the advanced search and use filters to find games under $20 I might be interested in. Otherwise, Steam doesn't sell me anything anymore apart from when I find out about a game somewhere else. And even then, I'll use GOG over Steam if I can.

[raphidy]

Yeah, they probably should just look at Origin how it is so slick now.

[Thony]

Wall of text, no images. *Leaving dissapointed*

[AresKrieger]

Hope they completely destroy it in this attempt to fix it, GOG 4 life (also even Origin is better)

[226477_1454181668]

1 hour ago, Jorgen297 said:

If it ain't broken, don't fix it. 

It is broken. Its buggy and slow. 

[Doobeedoo]

I actually expected some pictures though, but oh well. Let's see the overhaul UI then. 

[Sakkura]

1 hour ago, raphidy said:

Yeah, they probably should just look at Origin how it is so slick now.

 

1 hour ago, AresKrieger said:

Hope they completely destroy it in this attempt to fix it, GOG 4 life (also even Origin is better)

Wat. Origin's layout is crappy compared to Steam.

[AresKrieger]

45 minutes ago, Sakkura said:

 

Wat. Origin's layout is crappy compared to Steam.

Possibly though I don't like steams layout (I use gog most often), but origin gives me free stuff and allows friends who haven't bought anything to communicate and join games together in a party for beta events like BF1, Origin as a whole has treated me better than steam hence why I prefer it to steam.

[zMeul]

3 hours ago, raphidy said:

Yeah, they probably should just look at Origin how it is so slick now.

I actually don't like it

[ThinkWithPortals]

Good. Steam isn't a terrible piece of software but my GOD is the UI ugly. Really needs an overhaul.

[christianled59]

This is awesome but they had better be doing some overhauls from the partner.steamworks site too. Managing a store page on steam is god awful and really ugly. I really hope I don't have to go through and manually change everyone one of my store pages because of this. 

[christianled59]

I found the post on the private steam group. Not sure if I'm allowed to say any details though. 

[Yoinkerman]

Good. I don't ever want to see an early access game

[PlayStation 2]

How about Valve gets off their asses and start making the trading system work again, because it's fucking annoying when TF2's (and CSGO's, and fucking Steam's) item servers go down like once every ten minutes.

[Mr.Meerkat]

4 hours ago, Doobeedoo said:

I actually expected some pictures though, but oh well. Let's see the overhaul UI then. 

3 hours ago, AresKrieger said:

Possibly though I don't like steams layout (I use gog most often), but origin gives me free stuff and allows friends who haven't bought anything to communicate and join games together in a party for beta events like BF1, Origin as a whole has treated me better than steam hence why I prefer it to steam.

And who ever complained about the layout/UI of steam...there is something called a skin...I use the widely known skin called Air and well...it's good  (all I'm saying is skins exists so stop complaining )

[kaiju_wars]

I hope they fix some stuff soon, because I'm getting tired of Far Cry 3 not wanting to work, or half of the games I buy and download from Steam being classified as viruses.

[AresKrieger]

7 minutes ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

 (all I'm saying is skins exists so stop complaining )

I wasn't even the one who brought it up 

 

My reason for hating steam go well beyond it's store front, rather I hate the platform as a whole so steam's store can burn in a dumpster fire for all I care as I don't use it.

[Mr.Meerkat]

2 minutes ago, AresKrieger said:

I wasn't even the one who brought it up 

Ah well, couldn't be bothered finding the correct 2/3 people so I just quoted you and the other guy as you were complaining something about steam  

 

3 minutes ago, AresKrieger said:

My reason for hating steam go well beyond it's store front, rather I hate the platform as a whole so steam's store can burn in a dumpster fire for all I care as I don't use it.

But cheap games...(non G2A/Kinguin) and it's better than Origin and Uplay...

[AresKrieger]

Just now, Mr.Meerkat said:

Ah well, couldn't be bothered finding the correct 2/3 people so I just quoted you and the other guy as you were complaining something about steam  

 

But cheap games...(non G2A/Kinguin) and it's better than Origin and Uplay...

Origin has given me free games before I even bought anything from them, you'll get no argument from me about Uplay though that thing is crap

[Mr.Meerkat]

Just now, AresKrieger said:

Origin has given me free games before I even bought anything from them

That is true...ah well  

[Nup]

Yes, finally steam. Start improving!