Valve is continuing to improve Steam and some of its feature’s usefulness. Next on their to-do list is tackle Steam Curators and there’s a lot changing that should benefit both users, developers, and curators.
Valve has a difficult job when it comes to suggesting games that suit a users taste and it’s a problem they are trying to overcome with updated algorithms and a more robust Curator system. The plan is to now better support journalists, critics, content creators, writers and enthusiasts with new systems.
For users/players, the first thing they will notice when this all goes live is a dedicated space for followed curators at the top of category sections such as the Free to Play game section. If a Curator you follow adds a video, that video will also be available in-line with the recommendation. Curators will also be able to create themed lists which some users may find useful if there’s a specific topic/genre they enjoy. The recommended curators lists are also being tweaked to offer improved suggestions to users.
Valve is also going to make it easier for Curators offering more enhanced features. Videos will be able to be added as part of their reviews as mentioned above. Improved branding for Curators’ homepages is also being added including selecting games, lists, and tags to feature and the ability to upload a personalised background. Graphs for Curators will also be available to show how reviews impact the behaviour of users on the Steam store.
The most important additions for Curators involve interactions with developers. Steam will now highlight Curators to developers if they have a relevant audience. This system will also allow developers to get their games to Curators with what Valve is calling Curator Connect. Developers can search for relevant Curators which are sorted by name, OS, language, or tags that the Curator states they focus on. Developers will also have access to follower count stats and any linked social media accounts such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Twitch.
This interaction between Curators and developers should help stop anyone requesting review/preview code when they are not actually a legitimate outlet or member of a Curator’s group/publication. This is quite a common problem which we have to deal with here at PC Invasion. With that system in place, developers can simply click send and the game will go directly to the Curator through steam doing away with email correspondence. Once the game appears, Curators can accept or decline the game.
All of the above sounds like a step in the right direction and a small beta test for Curators is now getting underway. All the changes and additions are expected to roll out in the next few weeks or so.
We encourage all our readers to follow the PC Invasion curated games list on Steam to make sure they are picking up our recommendations.
