The Steam store page will look quite different come September 1st. For those who frequent the Steam store often, it would be nearly impossible to ignore all the extra add-ons to a game’s banner image. Banner images are cluttered with review scores, discount marketing copy, and awards, that shape user perception of a game even before a they decide to buy it. Additionally, these extra additions to banner images have an effect of confusing and giving users an inaccurate perception of a game. So in a blog post on July 28, 2022, Valve announced significant changes regarding how games can be marketed on the Steam store page. Starting September 1st graphical assets (banner images) for games won’t have awards, review scores or discounts, instead using just the promotional image and text for promotion.
For Valve these new rules, while strict, are there to make sure guidelines are as clear for what developers should and shouldn’t have presented on graphical assets. They continued on will a fuller explanation of their reasoning:
For example, some game logos themselves have become so small that it’s hard for players to tell what the name of the game is. In other cases, graphical asset images are so cluttered with award logos and ratings that it is distracting and hard to read. Some capsules include review scores that are no longer accurate. We also see that in most cases this additional text on assets is presented in English language only, isolating much of the Steam audience that doesn’t speak English.
Valve also acknowledged some issues that developers might have with the new changes:
We understand that developers want to communicate with their players about the quality of their games, and Steam already has spaces on game store pages to present most of this information. Press review quotes, press review scores, and special awards each have dedicated spaces on Steam store pages where it can be presented consistently and where customers can expect to find that information.
While these new implementations might seem harsh, they seem like a necessary thing to keep things easier on the eyes when shopping for new games. For a fuller picture of the rules, read the full documentation here.