Valve Plans Steam Facelift With Library Redesign, New Events Page

Steam has long been in need of a facelift, and Valve is gearing up to do just that in the coming months. 

When talking to developers about their wish list of changes for the crowded digital marketplace, the most resonant chorus formed around discoverability. This led to several upcoming user interface designs meant to surface and resurface games to players.

The biggest change comes via a redesigned library page featuring advanced filters, which you can see for yourself here. 

The new design surfaces games players have recently played at the top, and a second highlighted area focuses on games in your library with recent title updates. The rest of the library is displayed below with a gallery of Netflix-style box art. Players have the ability to search through their libraries now with custom filters. 

The second major change to the Steam storefront is the new Events tab, which is a one-stop shop where players can see all the games that have received recent title updates or are running special events like a double XP weekend. Think of this space like a mini-blog within the store where developers can write updates about what's going on with their titles. Clicking into an event page gives you even more information, including a more detailed breakdown, screenshots, and even embedded streams. Developers have full control over these update posts, and users can set up notifications and even reminders for when a particular event starts. Valve has included many ways players can opt into notifications, whether it be via personal calendar apps, the Steam client, email, mobile app, or even text message.  

Look for these changes to hit open beta in the next couple of months.