Valve has revealed that significant changes are coming to the way that the Steam store works, potentially impacting users and developers alike. The move comes following a period of Steam experimentation as Valve has tried to find a way to make the service better for everyone.
Steam is the most popular PC gaming platform around, but that hasn’t stopped the service from making changes over time. One popular change made earlier in the year was improving Steam wishlists, which allows for users to freely share their most-wanted games with anyone. Previously, only Steam users could view and buy games off of wishlists, which could be an annoying roadblock for non-gamers to give gifts. That change could have a big impact during the holiday season, but this new reveal won’t take effect until 2027.
Steam Reveals Coming Changes to Store Listings
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via Valve
Valve has now unveiled some changes coming to the Steam Store in 2027, revealing that it will be moving away from a calendar approach with regards to how players are shown discounted games. Valve explained that the Steam Discounts and Events page is curated, meaning that each listing is set manually by partners and Valve employees. Next year will see more discounted games or sale events visible to each user by switching some curated spots to a dynamic and personalized recommendation system.
According to Valve, it’s already been experimenting with this new system on Steam in a limited manner, and has seen some positive results from it. Steam was reportedly able to show ten times as many games to customers on any given day in the Discounts and Events section. As a result, more gamers found titles they were interested in, and accordingly, there were “meaningful increases” to the number of individual game listing pages visited on the store, wishlist additions, and purchases. Ultimately, Valve expects that it will stop using curated placements entirely in the Discounts and Events section sometime in early 2027. Developers will be receiving more information about the changes in the coming weeks, but Steam didn’t state if it would be sharing more details with users at the same time.
Guess the games from the emojis.
Guess the games from the emojis.
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In theory, this update sounds like it will be good for everyone involved. It was estimated earlier in 2026 that Steam sees about 350 new games added every single week, with a large portion of that being made up of indie games. With that level of constant growth, getting noticed on Steam can be difficult for developers. With more customized recommendations, it may be easier for gamers to find titles that appeal to them that they would never have even seen otherwise.
Only a full rollout of the new system will determine whether it’s as successful as Steam is hoping for. However, Valve is continuing to tweak the way the system works ahead of that, so with any luck, this change will succeed in delivering more exciting games in 2027 to individual gamers. In doing so, players will not only be happy and keep using Steam, but it will also serve to boost the revenue for developers and Valve alike in the process.
