New Steam rules change the way games stand out

Bonus codes, discount ads, and review notes spoil the Steam storefront in a photoshopped image.

picture: valve / kotaku

Yesterday, Valve released an update for developers selling on their storefront. As of September 1 of this year, “banner images” are referred to as “capsules » In Steamworks, you will not be able to include a variety of bonuses, ongoing sales, and more. In announcing the policy change, House of Representatives Gordon Freeman said previous rules had not been sufficiently defined.

Logo images are the equivalent of cover art on Steam. This is what you see on store listings and is usually designed to grab your attention as quickly as possible: this often means fictional art, a prominent main character, and the title in large, stylized letters. But it’s also a place where developers show current sales, list great reviews, show prizes the game could have won, or just tell you there’s new DLC or a seasonal update. However, from September 1, developers will be allowed to post important updates, but they will be prevented from publishing numbers or other text that are not directly related to the game.

valve Share news of upcoming changes in an announcement on steamcommunity.com. Titled “New Rules for Graphics Asset Capsules,” the post explains the company’s desire to “make things as clear and simple as possible for customers to find games to buy and play on Steam.” For them, this does not include the highly rated list, award names, icons or logos, nor does it include any discounted marketing copy whatsoever.

The contents of the Steam Core Graphics Assets capsules are limited to in-game artwork, game name, and any official translations. For clarity, this means:

  1. There are no review ratings of any kind, including Steam ratings or external information sources
  1. There is no award name, symbol or logo
  2. No discounted marketing copy (eg, no “on sale now” or “up to 90% off” text)
  3. There is no text or image promoting a different product. This does not include marketing for sequels or other titles in the same franchise.
  4. There is no other miscellaneous text.

Images may be updated to notify customers of updates, such as a major DLC release or a popular seasonal update with live service games. However, there are also limitations to this. Said updates can only run for one month, using what Valve calls “Artwork Overrides.” In addition, the text, which should only be used to describe new content and nothing else, must be translated into all languages ​​supported by the game.

For those who want to post high ratings, Valve says developers should follow the rules outlined in “Storing Accolades Page Documents on Steamworks. These are the differences you see on the game’s store page, often on the right side of the page.

This rule change will likely help eliminate some of the text clutter that sometimes fills Steam, although it remains to be seen how developers will respond to the new guidelines and how strict Valve will be in enforcing them when they are implemented. في سبتمبر.

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