Valve only wants ‘representative’ game images in the Steam Store

Valve may soon allow developers to only post real screenshots on the product pages of their games and not pre-rendered screenshots, concept art or other content that is not representative of the actual game.

Valve is asking if publishers and developers are making the change because it “may be difficult for customers to identify what they are looking at.” Things like marketing texts, indications of prizes a game has won and extras that come with collector’s editions can be found in the description further down the page. Valve gave Dota 2 as an example of where the company could make improvements on its own. The concept art has now also been removed from the gallery on the product page.

The news comes from leaked internal communication from Valve about future changes to Steam. A member of the forum of Garry’s Mod developer Facepunch got to see it during an internship with a game publisher and took screenshots.

The change in policy is not just to avoid confusion. It is also related to a larger collection of changes to the operation of the entire Steam store. In September it already leaked that Valve plans to make changes to how games are presented in the online store. The policy change on screenshots is part of that. After the update, screenshots will be displayed larger and more prominently on the front page. The navigation on the site is also improved.

So-called bullshots have long been a source of annoyance among parts of the gaming public. It is argued that these screenshots mislead users into purchasing a game that doesn’t look quite as nice in reality. It is also argued that this type of marketing should be banned in some way. That will probably be the case on Steam soon.