Playtester Hub :: Suggestions / Ideas

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𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕪Distraction 11 hours ago

Playtester Hub

Dear Steam Support,
I hope this message finds you well.
I'm writing today not about a technical issue, but with a suggestion that I believe could be a game-changer for the entire Steam ecosystem—one that would create a new type of value for everyone involved.
My idea is to establish a dedicated "Playtester Hub" on the Steam store. This would be a centralized place where developers could formally announce their playtesting opportunities and where players could easily sign up to participate.
The key is to create a system that offers tangible economic benefits and value for both the community and the platform itself:
For the Players (Playtesters): The community is a developer's most valuable asset. The "Playtester Hub" could reward us for our time and detailed feedback. This could be in the form of Steam Wallet funds, exclusive discounts on the final game, unique in-game items, or profile badges. This would transform our passion for gaming into a form of compensated work and give us a genuine incentive to provide high-quality feedback.
For the Developers: This would be a huge economic advantage. Instead of spending money and effort scouting for testers on forums, Discord, and other scattered platforms, they would have a dedicated, organized database of interested players right on Steam. This would save them significant marketing and QA costs, help them find critical bugs earlier, and ensure their game launches with a stronger foundation. This direct connection with a passionate community would also be a fantastic way to generate hype and build a loyal fanbase, leading to better sales.
For Steam: By facilitating these connections and creating a new service, Steam could take a small, symbolic transaction fee from the rewards offered to playtesters or charge developers a premium to list their playtesting campaigns on the platform. This would not only generate a new revenue stream but also further solidify Steam's position as the central hub for PC gaming, offering a valuable service that no other platform can match.
I believe this feature would make the playtesting process more professional and efficient, ultimately leading to better games for all of us. It would create a win-win-win situation for players, developers, and Steam.
Thank you for your time and for making Steam such an incredible place for gamers.
Best regards

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Showing 1-7 of 7 comments

cSg|mc-Hotsauce 9 hours ago

Originally posted by 𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕪Distraction:
Playtester Hub

Dear Steam Support,
I hope this message finds you well.
I'm writing today not about a technical issue, but with a suggestion that I believe could be a game-changer for the entire Steam ecosystem—one that would create a new type of value for everyone involved.
My idea is to establish a dedicated "Playtester Hub" on the Steam store. This would be a centralized place where developers could formally announce their playtesting opportunities and where players could easily sign up to participate.
The key is to create a system that offers tangible economic benefits and value for both the community and the platform itself:
For the Players (Playtesters): The community is a developer's most valuable asset. The "Playtester Hub" could reward us for our time and detailed feedback. This could be in the form of Steam Wallet funds, exclusive discounts on the final game, unique in-game items, or profile badges. This would transform our passion for gaming into a form of compensated work and give us a genuine incentive to provide high-quality feedback.
For the Developers: This would be a huge economic advantage. Instead of spending money and effort scouting for testers on forums, Discord, and other scattered platforms, they would have a dedicated, organized database of interested players right on Steam. This would save them significant marketing and QA costs, help them find critical bugs earlier, and ensure their game launches with a stronger foundation. This direct connection with a passionate community would also be a fantastic way to generate hype and build a loyal fanbase, leading to better sales.
For Steam: By facilitating these connections and creating a new service, Steam could take a small, symbolic transaction fee from the rewards offered to playtesters or charge developers a premium to list their playtesting campaigns on the platform. This would not only generate a new revenue stream but also further solidify Steam's position as the central hub for PC gaming, offering a valuable service that no other platform can match.
I believe this feature would make the playtesting process more professional and efficient, ultimately leading to better games for all of us. It would create a win-win-win situation for players, developers, and Steam.
Thank you for your time and for making Steam such an incredible place for gamers.
Best regards

This would probably be better for Steam Labs Store Hubs...

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/groups/SteamLabs/discussions/15/

Although, charging devs for the playtest and also giving users wallet funds for testing doesn't seem like something that will ever be a thing.

Last edited by cSg|mc-Hotsauce; 9 hours ago

rawWwRrr 9 hours ago

Steam already provides devs a beta/playtest system. The only difference here is the usual passing of the hat looking to get paid for it. A passionate community and loyal fanbase to someone's game wouldn't need the carrot and stick approach to be recruited as playtesters.

If anything, this would foster freeloaders and opportunistic users to flock communities they don't really care about just to play a game for free and get paid while doing it. Developers would have to pay out money to users who will vanish as soon as they get paid.

Last edited by rawWwRrr; 9 hours ago

pckirk 9 hours ago

There already a place, in each games forums, there is a sub-forum called:

Events & Announcement Sub-Forum:

Subscribe to that, and when the developer / publisher opens the game up for Early Access, then you purchase the game and follow along and be able to play the open beta playtests as they are released before they are moved to the stable branch of the game.

No need to get paid, when the enjoyment is getting early access to the pre release open betas.... you already own the gaame when it is finished development and released v1.0.000

Last edited by pckirk; 9 hours ago

Hi Im Swat 7 hours ago

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Please for the love of all things that's good, don't quote the opening post in full when you're the first comment. Likely why your comment is hidden.

76561198407601200 6 hours ago

Originally posted by Hi Im Swat:
Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Please for the love of all things that's good, don't quote the opening post in full when you're the first comment. Likely why your comment is hidden.

Typically it is for accountability as the ops will delete the post thus throwing the topic into confusion.

Hikari Light 6 hours ago

Originally posted by Hi Im Swat:
Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Please for the love of all things that's good, don't quote the opening post in full when you're the first comment. Likely why your comment is hidden.

The OPs tend to alter or even delete the post, hot sauce does that so the original post is still available so the OP can't try to change things.

cSg|mc-Hotsauce 6 hours ago

Originally posted by Hi Im Swat:
Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Please for the love of all things that's good, don't quote the opening post in full when you're the first comment. Likely why your comment is hidden.

It's fine. It gets through analysis.

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Date Posted: 27 Oct @ 2:12pm

Posts: 7

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