By Jacob Miller | Oct 01, 2026
A Shift Away From Curated Sales Listings
Valve says it's moving away from the calendar-style approach to showing discounted games. At the moment, the Steam Discounts and Events page is curated, which means partners and Valve staff set each listing by hand. That's about to change. Next year, some of those hand-picked spots will be swapped for a dynamic, personalized recommendation system, so each player sees more sales and events that actually suit them.
Valve has already been testing the idea on a limited basis, and the early numbers look encouraging. Steam was reportedly able to show ten times as many games to customers on a given day in the Discounts and Events section. More players found titles they liked, which led to "meaningful increases" in visits to individual game pages, wishlist additions, and purchases. Because of those results, Valve expects to stop using curated placements in that section entirely in early 2027.
Developers should get more details in the coming weeks. Valve hasn't said whether regular users will get the same information at the same time.
Why This Could Help Players and Developers
On paper, the update sounds like a win for everyone. It was estimated earlier in 2026 that Steam adds about 350 new games every week, and a large share of them are indie titles. With that much new content, getting noticed is tough for developers. Personalized recommendations could put games in front of players who would never have stumbled on them otherwise.
Still, only a full rollout will show whether the system works as well as Valve hopes. The company is continuing to adjust it before launch, so there's a decent chance it gets better along the way. If it does, players should find more exciting games in 2027, stay happy with Steam, and boost revenue for both developers and Valve.
