Support NeoGAF

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

As spotted by GamesRadar, the Steamworks Development channel posted a video earlier this month explaining the ins and outs of how games snowball into surprise hits like Dave the Diver—which we gave a smashing 91 back in July.

The talk's given by Erik Peterson of Steam's business team, and it's an enlightening little journey through Steam's design philosophy. "We don't think Steam should be pay-to-win. Not selling ads levels the playing field and makes [its] recommendations better for players."

"We're surprised all the time by the games that find big success on Steam," continues Peterson. "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." Those surprises are, to him and his team, an indication that the platform's "working properly."

According to the presentation (which has a full PDF to read at your leisure) there are two ways games get the Steam spotlight: algorithmic visibility and curated featuring, both of which are driven by player interest.

Peterson then goes to the front page of Steam—recorded when, funnily enough, Dave the Diver had done what he calls a "full takeover" of the store. "Now it isn't every day that we have a full Steam takeover … the bar for [that] is really high … as such, we have to have really high confidence that it will appeal to a huge amount of customers." Daily deals, midweek and weekend deals, and content hub takeovers join the list of curated elements. "It's very competitive … you're gonna need to be in the top few hundred best selling games of Steam."

Meanwhile on the algorithmic side of things there's stuff like the Top Sellers section, which is "based on total revenue in the trailing 24 hours". There's also more personalised elements like the Featured & Recommended section, the Discover Queue, and anything that's recommended based on the games you play.

What's clear through the whole presentation is how much weight Steam lends to player investment. "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 … it can happen any time during the life cycle of your game."

The most common time for that gold rush is at a game's launch, since that's when the flood gates open, but Peterson insists that a bumpy launch doesn't knock you out of the running. "We've talked to developers that have had their most successful moments for their games years after launch … whenever there's a burst of customer interest in your game, Steam will pick up on it."

The presentation's definitely worth a watch if you're at all curious about the guts of the Steam engine, as it were—and it's a refreshing strategy. Even those weird, sketchy, out-of-nowhere hits mired in controversy like Only Up! help to preserve the wild west of weird PC gaming nonsense I've come to know and love.

Valve doesn't sell ad space on Steam so it can make room for surprise hits: 'We don't think Steam should be pay-to-win'

"We're surprised all the time" by which games take off, says Steam's Erik Peterson.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[ManaByte]

Why sell ads when you run the CounterStrike casino?

 

[IFireflyl]

I really admire Gabe Newell. He isn't a corporate sellout, and his decision-making balances making money with a regard for what gamers want/need.

 

[64bitmodels]

Well Steam isn't pay-to-win... but the games on it can be

 

[Mowcno]

Wait... so Party Animals really didn't pay anything to get this massive front page spread that the vast majority of much bigger titles never get? This isn't a sold advert???

 

[RickSanchez]

So the "Featured & Recommended" section is not sponsored ?

 

[jshackles]

I have a hard time believing that the full page spreads for giant AAA game releases (or big hit indies leaving EA) aren't paid promotion.

I'm talking about this shit

These hero banners trump the regular store discovery and are shown to everyone. There is a 0% chance that Valve gives this kind of exposure to random games for free.

 

[ssringo]

So, how do they decide who gets those big "JUST RELEASED" or "OUT OF EARLY ACCESS" banners?

 

[rofif]

Steam will suck ass once Gaben dies. hell

 

[StueyDuck]

It does have a huge volume of shit though, it really is a struggle to find those winners when 50000 anime hentai weeb picture books release a day.

And sadly creeper isn't a tag you can ignore on steam , even if you block hentai and nudity they still manage to litter the front pages.

And that's not even counting the actual junk that doesn't launch or barely counts as a video game

 

[EverydayBeast]

Valve will end up in the hands of Microsoft, and ads will get in there for now ads are sealed off.

 

[Topher]

Valve will end up in the hands of Microsoft,

 

[64bitmodels]

It does have a huge volume of shit though, it really is a struggle to find those winners when 50000 anime hentai weeb picture books release a day.

The hentai is a major part of PC gaming. The average PC gamer is on average 2x as horny as the average Console gamer, and faps 3x as much as the average console gamer.(the result of having an uncompromised browser). Ya either learn to accept it or you go back to console land.

 

[ManaByte]

It does have a huge volume of shit though, it really is a struggle to find those winners when 50000 anime hentai weeb picture books release a day.

And sadly creeper isn't a tag you can ignore on steam , even if you block hentai and nudity they still manage to litter the front pages.

And that's not even counting the actual junk that doesn't launch or barely counts as a video game

Isn’t the front page tailored to what you play?

 

[StueyDuck]

.

 

[GnomeChimpsky]

Steam keeps putting every other commercial service to shame.

 

[StueyDuck]

Isn’t the front page tailored to what you play?

Literally "released today" and "top sellers" aren't tailored to anyone.

The hentai is a major part of PC gaming. The average PC gamer is on average 2x as horny as the average Console gamer(the result of having an uncompromised browser). Ya either learn to accept it or you go back to console land.

Whoa, didn't know I needed to be some weirdo to play PC

 

[64bitmodels]

Whoa, didn't know I needed to be some weirdo to play PC

I also didn't know you didn't have a sense of humor.... I'm pretty sure the pulled out of my ass statistic would make it clear that i was joking

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

So the "Featured & Recommended" section is not sponsored ?

It's actually explained in the first few minutes of the video. Featured & Recommended is algorithmic so all the games that are shown there are personalized for each individual steam user. A game is being shown there because in the past (or currently) you played games tagged with those particular tags.

 

[StueyDuck]

I also didn't know you didn't have a sense of humor.... I'm pretty sure the pulled out of my ass statistic would make it clear that i was joking

You underestimate how seriously people take their 100 year old schoolgirl anime porn.

It's always safe to take people as serious on this matter

 

[64bitmodels]

You underestimate how seriously people take their 100 year old schoolgirl anime porn.

It's always safe to take people as serious on this matter

Fair enough, it's hard to distinguish retardation from sarcasm as is.

I can understand your frustration with all the hentai shovelware but i don't see it much on my page. I think the last time i saw a hentai game on Steam's frontpage was like.... months ago.

Besides the result is that publishing indies to steam is far easier than any other platform

 

[KaiserBecks]

I must be naive, I never considered those pages could be ads.

 

[Filben]

What does "usually" means when they're saying review scores is not a factor?

 

[StueyDuck]

Fair enough, it's hard to distinguish retardation from sarcasm as is.

I can understand your frustration with all the hentai shovelware but i don't see it much on my page. I think the last time i saw a hentai game on Steam's frontpage was like.... months ago.

Besides the result is that publishing indies to steam is far easier than any other platform

You can combat it. But if I was an indie dev tryna break through the market I'd be pretty pissed at steam, there is no way games don't go completely under the radar, games that could at least get a small following probably go out to die

 

[DrFigs]

It's kind of like how kick.com doesn't run ads because they make a ton of money on gambling. I wonder why every company doesn't also run a casino?

 

[Zathalus]

I have a hard time believing that the full page spreads for giant AAA game releases (or big hit indies leaving EA) aren't paid promotion.

I'm talking about this shit

These hero banners trump the regular store discovery and are shown to everyone. There is a 0% chance that Valve gives this kind of exposure to random games for free.

They literally just said you cant buy ad space. If this wasn't true it would obviously come to light. Maybe watch the video (its fully explained at 3:20)?

 

[Gamezone]

Steam will suck ass once Gaben dies. hell

What happens the day Gabe retires? Can Steam privately owned within Valve?

 

[Interfectum]

Steam will suck ass once Gaben dies. hell

That's what scares me about Valve/Steam long-term as well. I feel like once Gabe is gone all bets are off. The decisions he makes aren't always rooted in making more money and are very long term. He is clearly a stubborn individual that will ignore accountants and advice to do whatever he wants. These people aren't plentiful in nature and I have no doubt the next Valve CEO will be a lot more bog standard than him.

 

[Zathalus]

That's what scares me about Valve/Steam long-term as well. I feel like once Gabe is gone all bets are off. The decisions he makes aren't always rooted in making more money and are very long term. He is clearly a stubborn individual that will ignore accountants and advice to do whatever he wants. These people aren't plentiful in nature and I have no doubt the next Valve CEO will be a lot more bog standard than him.

He might pass it on to somebody he trusts or one of his son. I recall his eldest is a game developer and quite a cool dude.

 

[Holammer]

Valve will end up in the hands of Microsoft, and ads will get in there for now ads are sealed off.

I'm leaning towards the IKEA solution where a Valve group is formed to run the company with a set of directives and ethical guidelines carved in stone.
It's not rocket science that haven't been done before.

 

[rofif]

He might pass it on to somebody he trusts or one of his son. I recall his eldest is a game developer and quite a cool dude.

Business usually dies when you give it to your son lol

 

[Zathalus]

Business usually dies when you give it to your son lol

Not really, family business is a thing. Many a successful business has run for decades or even longer this way.

 

[Denton]

These hero banners trump the regular store discovery and are shown to everyone. There is a 0% chance that Valve gives this kind of exposure to random games for free.

And yet, that is exactly what happens. They are not paid.

 

[64bitmodels]

I mean shit the most random games will blow up on Steam just because. No one expected Dave the Diver to get as big as it did. Neither did anyone expect Vampire Survivors to blow up back in 2022. PC gamers love their indies. And yeah, Valve could also just be giving exposure to random games for free. It doesn't cost money to put a different image and a hyperlink on a page.

 

[bitbydeath]

Steam will suck ass once Gaben dies. hell

It already sucks ass now for being the first application to gate-keep games on PC.

 

[Bry0]

That's what scares me about Valve/Steam long-term as well. I feel like once Gabe is gone all bets are off. The decisions he makes aren't always rooted in making more money and are very long term. He is clearly a stubborn individual that will ignore accountants and advice to do whatever he wants. These people aren't plentiful in nature and I have no doubt the next Valve CEO will be a lot more bog standard than him.

It’s certainly possible. I don’t know who else pulls the most weight at valve but I hope they adopt Gabe’s philosophy.

 

[Dream-Knife]

The best place to play IMO.

 

[Gallard]

It's in their best interest to push the games with the most potential. Every game they sell nets them 30%.

The reverse is getting some AD money up front, pushing a crap game, and having their users come to distrust their recommendations and algorithms. A short term gain, but devastating long term loss

 

[Alexios]

It's a nice thought but marketing a game is obviously not just a matter of putting up a Steam page, games still need to have a marketing strategy outside of it and there it's definitely a pay to win field. Still, games stand the best chance on Steam, any other corp would have been gatekeeping indies and the small guys out of it but Steam gives everyone equal access which leads to random games like this I've never heard of already being successful. This is coming out of early access with already ~8k reviews at 91+% positive. Only Steam allows success stories like this to be the norm, an any day occurence you may or may not hear about but that saved a studio's ass or made them rich, for so many years in a row and constantly improving at that (rather than say, the first batch of games lucky enough to get on a new popular console a la Switch at launch because of their connections and dev kit lottery with the situation getting worse over time as the store gets crowded and basically being at the expense of every game kept out of the store). Of course games always fall through the cracks sadly but it's impossible for every (worthy) game to have the same visibility and success.

 

[Freelance Yakuza]

I really admire Gabe Newell. He isn't a corporate sellout, and his decision-making balances making money with a regard for what gamers want/need.

Steam is good because it does not need to please shareholders

 

[poodaddy]

Valve will end up in the hands of Microsoft, and ads will get in there for now ads are sealed off.

Why do people keep saying this dumb shit.

You cannot buy what's not for sale.

 

[ArtHands]

I have a hard time believing that the full page spreads for giant AAA game releases (or big hit indies leaving EA) aren't paid promotion.

I'm talking about this shit

These hero banners trump the regular store discovery and are shown to everyone. There is a 0% chance that Valve gives this kind of exposure to random games for free.

Its literally explained in the video how they choose the games to appear in these front page takeover.

 

[Topher]

I'm leaning towards the IKEA solution where a Valve group is formed to run the company with a set of directives and ethical guidelines carved in stone.
It's not rocket science that haven't been done before.

If it were left to me then I'd set up Valve as a non-proift organization and sell non-resaleable stock so that gamers could have ownership, but limit how much stock any one person could buy so no one person has more control than another. All profits would be invested back into the company for game development and store/support improvements. Basically using the Green Bay Packers of the NFL as a model. Probably a million reasons why that's a bad idea, but sounds good in my head right now. lol

 

[Sleepwalker]

Fair enough, it's hard to distinguish retardation from sarcasm as is.

I can understand your frustration with all the hentai shovelware but i don't see it much on my page. I think the last time i saw a hentai game on Steam's frontpage was like.... months ago.

Besides the result is that publishing indies to steam is far easier than any other platform

Theres a toggle to not show hentai games on your steam page anyway, I havent seen one in forever.

 

[jshackles]

Its literally explained in the video how they choose the games to appear in these front page takeover.

Sure, they thought GTFO (18k peak players at launch) or Potion Craft (10k peak players at launch) were worthy of massive free curated advertising to the Steam community at large? And those are just two examples I could find while doing google searches.

When I ran Enhanced Steam I had indie developers offer me tens of thousands of dollars to add these types of takeover banners to the Steam homepage, just for the small subset of users that used the extension. I had big publishers offer me... more. (I never took them up on these offers). I think a lot of people underestimate just how valuable this ad space is. And I also think it's naive to think that Valve is only doing this to prop up games they think are gonna be "the next big thing" so that they can get their 30% cut of sales. If your counter-argument is just "but he just said it in the video - you can't buy ads on Steam", maybe have some self reflection about the number of times in your life a large multibillion-dollar company has lied to you to make themselves look better than their competition.

Or, perhaps I'm just getting old and jaded. I don't believe them.

 

[RoboFu]

Steam will suck ass once Gaben dies. hell

Yup more than likely the private equities will swoop in.

 

[Topher]

perhaps I'm just getting old and jaded.

That much is certain, but you make excellent points.

 

[BennyBlanco]

It already sucks ass now for being the first application to gate-keep games on PC.

What does this even mean lmao. Anyone can publish a game on Steam.

 

[bitbydeath]

What does this even mean lmao. Anyone can publish a game on Steam.

PC gaming was better before Steam arrived, it’s arrival is up there with paying for online on consoles.

 

[Topher]

PC gaming was better before Steam arrived, it’s arrival is up there with paying for online on consoles.

Not true. PC gaming was dying due to rampant piracy before Steam arrived. And Steam doesn't gate-keep anything on PC. The multiple stores/launchers are proof of that.