Steam became a better place for gamers and devs. Valve recaps recent changes and prepares more improvements

Valve has made several improvements to Steam for players as well as developers and publishers. The scale of the changes is shown in an post with a summary of the platform's development in 2024.

Jacob Blazewicz

March 14, 2025 13:15

Source: Valve Corporation.

Contents:

Something for gamers...
...and something for devs for the next year

Valve Corporation recapped the successful 2024 year for Steam, which introduced many changes and improvements to this leading digital game distribution platform.

Valve has divided its latest post into three categories: improvements for customers and developers, and data regarding the state of the platform. Recent results considered the activity of users who repeatedly set new Steam records, with the latest being this year, involving 40 million game accounts.

It was mentioned that 2024 was the top year for new games, with revenue growing ten times since 2014 and greatly surpassing the outcomes of previous years (where "revenue from new releases" refers to gross revenue from the first 30 days after being released on Steam). Over 500 titles exceeded the amount of $250,000, 27% more than in 2022.

Valve also pays attention to the global nature of the platform and how many launching titles have had a very successful release. This includes, among others, the success of a studio from Malaysia—a country whose citizens generate only 0.5% of global traffic on Steam.

Something for gamers...

Nonetheless, the majority of Valve's post is dedicated to reminding both regular users and developers, as well as publishers who release their games on Steam, about the changes that have been introduced. Of course, some improvements are helpful for both players and developers. For instance, changes in demo versions have, on one hand, fixed popular but misleading "prologues," and on the other hand, made demos more visible and better highlighted on Steam.

Valve also pointed out to events like the Steam Next Festival and themed sales, whether organized by individual publishers or centered on a specific genre or type of game. The events under the patronage of Valve are believed to be one of the reasons why more and more developers are preparing demo versions, even though for many years, these versions seemed to be on the verge of extinction.

Steam customers could also appreciate such changes as a new cart and private games, changes in the Workshop, Family function, better review sorting and game descriptions, and the option to record games. This is complemented by new features such as separating achievements from DLC and information about advanced access, which is new, paid access available a few days before the global release.

...and something for devs for the next year

Besides, the aforementioned changes, devs and publishers also received a lot of improvements on Steam. The option to set a longer-lasting discount for a game launch, enhancements related to useful Daily Deals, and a new game card editor are just a few of the new features aimed at making developers' work easier. This is complemented by novelties related to playing in VR and with the Steam Deck.

Valve also referred to a detailed document with responses to many potential questions, along with changes intended to reach audiences in Germany (following a legal change that halted the distribution of games without an age rating).

Of course, that's not the end. In the first quarter of 2025, Valve introduced several changes, including a ban on games forcing players to watch ads and providing information on whether a game in early access is still being developed. However, this feature could be harmful to active developers. The company intends to continue listening to both players and developers - after all, their comments are behind many improvements that have made it to Steam in recent years.