It seems like Valve has been slowly incorporating many changes into Steam’s interface, one that hasn’t been seen any major changes in years. The most recent change comes to the one place that needed an overhaul for a long time; Steam store’s Upcoming Releases section.
Valve has now added the full list of upcoming games and shows a tab called ‘Popular Upcoming,’ described as a “smarter, more tailored list” of what’s coming soon. This tab will compile games based on wishlists, pre-orders, and the success of past titles from the publisher or developer. The tab will also personalize itself for you, showing titles from studios you follow and games you’ve wishlisted, and will remove those options you’ve marked as ‘not interested. A feature not too dissimilar with the Discovery Que.
The Upcoming Releases page is even more detailed. In the words of Valve, “if you follow a developer or publisher with a new game coming out, the Upcoming Releases page will feature those games. If you’ve wishlisted a game, it will appear here as well. If you’ve shown Steam some of your interests, we’ll be taking that into account as you browse through games that are coming to Steam. Conversely, we won’t be populating this page with things you’ve willfully said you’re not interested in or with DLC for games you don’t own.”
Valve assures that this change will not prevent indie developers from getting visibility on the store page and said that “It’s clear to us that a brief (and sometimes very brief) spot on Steam’s front page isn’t useful if your game is shown to a random set of customers – what’s best for everyone is if your game is shown to the right customers, ones who have shown that they might like your game.”
As avid Steam lovers, Indian Noob crew has always wished Valve to do something like this. After all, clicking through the Discovery Que without the promise of trading cards is a genuine chore.