Valve then reiterates that “games we would’ve never predicted” pop off so hard
To explain why you see those suggested games, Valve provides a unique look inside the Steam engine.
Erik Peterson of Valve’s business team argues that storefront visibility shouldn’t “be pay to win” in a recent talk about how Steam places games in front of players. He also provides an in-depth look at how games are marketed on the largest PC gaming store. Although the talk is geared toward publishers and developers, there are some fascinating player-facing tidbits as well, particularly if you’re curious about why Steam keeps suggesting a particular kind of game to you.
“Our goal with Steam is to match games with the players who will love them,” starts Peterson. “It’s really important to us that players trust that, when they see a game when they come to the Steam store, it’s relevant and interesting to them.”
Peterson also makes use of the unexpected successes that appear on the PC far more frequently than on other platforms: “Every week, Steam automatically picks up on games that we haven’t even heard of, or games that we would’ve never predicted would be popular. Hit games are emerging organically, powered by what players are excited about. We think when we’re surprised by a game, that’s good. It’s an indication that Steam is working properly.”
The video showcases the newest and most popular tab, which is Pseudoregalia. This unexpected Metroidvania hit made its mostly solo developer a fortune that changed their life. The video also includes a significant appearance from Dave the Diver, one of the summer’s greatest success stories, which at one point even earned it a “full Steam takeover” banner on the store’s home page.
Peterson goes on to say: “The bar for something like a Steam takeover is really high. It’s actually the biggest amount of marketing that we provide for any game. As such, we have to really have confidence that it will appeal to a huge amount of customers. And this section is, as you might guess, curated. That means it is shown to every single user on Steam.”
How do these games become popular? It is common knowledge that Steam makes game recommendations based on user habits and preferences in addition to national and local trends. Waves of algorithms (and some humans) work behind the scenes to find topical titles that suit players’ documented interests, often based on the games they play or have shown interest in. These titles range from top sellers and marquee-featured games to the new and trending tab. For example, genre tags are crucial because they make it simple for Steam to recommend games that are similar to ones you already know.
According to Peterson, Steam uses a combination of “algorithmic visibility and curated featuring,” to make recommendations. The former involves personalization (features, recommendations, discovery queue, curator recommendations), while the latter involves defining the broad strokes that are visible to all users (special offers).
Regarding Steam’s automated curation, Peterson states, “We hear a lot about ‘The Algorithm,’ but in reality, there is no one algorithm.
Yes, there are algorithms that react to players and drive what they see, but there is no magical algorithm.”
He added “One of the most reliable and accurate ways we’ve figured out to measure player interest is revenue. When a bunch of players are spending time and money on your game, it’s a really strong signal to Steam that it could be interesting to other players too.”
This kind of algorithmic success eventually feeds back into the content that Valve curates. or, in Peterson’s words, “curated featuring “such as sales on the weekends and daily, or banners on the front page or content hub (genre page) are “earned with player interest.” They derived this from “a mix of sales and other custom signals,” and “it’s very competitive” considering the enormous platform it offers competition.
Peterson goes on to say: “If you’re looking to be part of a midweek or weekend deal, you’re gonna need to be in the top few hundred best-selling games on all of Steam.”