Valve has begun open testing of a new criteria for determining the usefulness of user reviews on Steam. Now, the comments which are the most helpful for users to decide whether to purchase a game will be displayed first. This new concept can be disabled on the pages of each separate game.

Valve has stated that there's nothing wrong with reviews containing jokes, memes and ASCII art. The company believes that while such reviews can entertain players, they are not always serving its initial purpose. This is why the Steam developers created the usefulness rating system.

Valve will not delete reviews that lack useful information. Instead, these reviews will start appearing after the more helpful comments.

According to the developers, many users wish to share their opinions but aren't always able to find the right words, or don't want to go into too much detail. Valve believes that even if someone can't explain why they liked a game, their recommendation still holds value.

As of August 2024, Steam users have published over 140 million reviews, Valve also shared.

Main image: alphacoders.com

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