Hello!

I have several ideas to improve user experience that could be implemented using Steam's existing infrastructure. These suggestions focus on practical solutions with clear technical pathways.

Discover the "why" behind every idea in paired User Experience Deep Dive sections.

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1. Priority Language Support Indicators

"See translation availability at a glance"

Preview:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3443568430

• Three icons (Interface/Voice/Subtitles) near game descriptions
  
• Color-coded indicators (blue=supported, gray=not supported)
  
• Tooltips with exact language status on hover

Implementation:
• Query language data from app page's "game_language_options" table
• Create SVG indicators using Steam's design system

This feature would allow users to quickly see if a game supports their language without scrolling to the language list, especially useful when browsing recommendations.

User Experience Deep Dive

This is all about quality of life. Imagine you're scrolling through your Steam recommendations. Right now, to find out if a game supports your preferred language, you have to scroll all the way down to the language table, check if your language is listed, and see if it's just subtitles, interface, or full voiceover support. It's a hassle, especially when you're browsing dozens of games.

What if, instead, you could see three small icons right next to the game's short description? One for interface, one for voiceover, and one for subtitles. Blue means your language is supported, gray means it's not. No more scrolling, no more guessing. You'd instantly know if the game is fully localized or just has a text translation. It's a small change, but it saves time and makes browsing way smoother.

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2. Enhanced Review Statistics

"Get complete review insights"

Preview:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3443569013

• Display the rating and total number of reviews, including those written after key activations. The current system is designed to filter out potential abuses from key giveaways, but users should still have the option to see the unfiltered review statistics.
  
• Show the rating and number of reviews in the user’s priority language. This helps users understand how the game is perceived by others who share their language. Eg: a sharp drop in positive reviews in the user’s language might indicate localization issues.

Implementation:
• Use "appreviews" API endpoint with "purchase_type=all" and "language={user_priority_language}" parameter
• Add new review summary rows below existing metrics

User Experience Deep Dive

This one's about transparency. Right now, Steam shows you a filtered rating based on reviews from people who bought the game directly on Steam. But what about all those reviews from players who got the game through keys? They're not counted, and that can skew your perception.

For example, let's say 100 Steam buyers gave a game a 50% positive rating. That's bad, right? But then 1000 backers who got keys left glowing reviews. You'd never know unless you dig into the reviews manually. By showing both filtered and unfiltered review stats, you'd get a clearer picture. Sure, some key reviews might be from bots or giveaways, but at least you'd see the full picture and make an informed decision.

Another scenario: a game has a 90% positive rating overall, but only 30% of reviews in your language are positive. Maybe the localization is terrible, or maybe the game just doesn't resonate with players in your region. Without digging into the reviews, you'd never know. Showing language-specific ratings would help you spot these issues right away.

And here's another idea: what if a game has 10000 overwhelmingly positive reviews, but 9500 of them are in Chinese? If you're not Chinese, the game might not appeal to you at all. But you'd never know unless you manually filter out those reviews. This functionality can be implemented based on the previous one, but in the form of excluding reviews in a certain language from the general mass. Let's say you can add a drop-down list that will indicate the languages ​​of reviews, their percentage mass and rating. You can select a language with too large a percentage mass and exclude it to see the rest of the picture. This is again about transparency.

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3. Friends Playtime & Achievement Stats

"Social gaming insights"

Preview:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3443569134

This information could be displayed to the right of the short game description. A dropdown could show:

• Maximum playtime (with the friend’s name)
  
• Average playtime (and the number of friends)
  
• Minimum playtime

Below this, display global achievement statistics:

• Percentage of players who have fully completed the game
  
• Average completion percentage

Implementation:
• Aggregate friend data from "friendsthatplay"
• Display achievement statistics by querying global achievement data.

User Experience Deep Dive

This is about making your friends' gaming habits work for you. Right now, if you want to know how long a game takes to beat, you have to go to "friends who played this game" and manually calculate their average playtime. It's doable, but it's a pain.

What if Steam did that for you? Imagine opening a game's page and seeing: "Your friends spent an average of 20 hours on this game. The longest playtime was 50 hours, and the shortest was 5." You'd instantly know if the game is a quick weekend play or a massive time sink.

The same goes for achievements. Right now, you have to dig through global stats to see how hard a game is. But what if Steam showed you: "40% of players completed the rarest achievement, and the average completion rate is 90%." Higher percentages mean an easier game, lower ones mean a challenge. It's a simple way to set expectations before you buy.

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4. Enhanced Early Access Information

"Track development progress"

Display information about early access to the right of the short game description, above the language indicators. There are two types of information:

• How many years the game was in early access before release (currently, it’s hard to tell if a game was ever in early access without manually checking the page).
  
• How many years the EA game has been in early access.

Preview:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3443569290


Implementation:
• Parse "earlyaccessheader" metadata, "Early Access Release Date:" and first "Early Access Review"
• Calculate duration between initial EA date and release / or initial EA date and today if it's still in EA.

User Experience Deep Dive

Early Access games are a big part of Steam, but it's hard to tell how long a game has been in development unless you do some digging. If a game spent six years in Early Access before fully releasing, that's a sign the developers were committed to polishing it. But if you discover the game three years after release, you'd never know.

Adding a small note like "This game was in Early Access for 3 years" would give you context. For games still in Early Access, you'd see how long they've been there. It's a small detail, but it helps you understand the game's history and the developers' commitment.

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5. Enhanced Game Tooltips

"Rich hover information"

Currently, there’s a right-side tooltip that shows the game’s name, release date, platforms, and user tags. You can add a left-side tooltip with:

• Publisher
  
• Developer
  
• Game series
  
• Early access status
  
• Priority language support
  
• Short description

Implementation:
• Extend API response
• Implement a second tooltip that appears on the left side of the game card (This would distribute the information more evenly, avoiding overly tall tooltips).

User Experience Deep Dive

When you're browsing Steam's catalog, you get a tooltip on the right side with basic info like the game's name, release date, and tags. But what if you could see even more on the left side? Publisher, developer, game series, early access status, language support, and a short description—all without leaving the catalog page.

It's a simple way to distribute information more evenly and avoid overwhelming tooltips. You'd get a quick overview of the game without clicking through, making browsing faster and more efficient.

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6. Additional Language Filters in the Catalog Search

"Split VO and text translations in your language"

Add a filter block with checkboxes to filter games by priority language support:

• Text only (games with interface and/or subtitles in the priority language)
  
• Voiceover (games with voiceover in the priority language)
  
• No translation (games without the priority language)

Preview:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3443569394

Implementation:
• Add a new filter section in the catalog search UI.
• Query the language support data for each game and apply the filters dynamically.
• Update the search results in real-time based on the selected filters.

User Experience Deep Dive

This is a huge win for non-English speakers. Right now, you can filter games by language, but you can't separate text translations from full localizations. For some players, that's a big deal. Watching a movie with subtitles is very different from watching it dubbed, and the same goes for games.

Adding checkboxes for "Text only" and "Voiceover" would let you fine-tune your search. During a sale, you could prioritize games with full voiceovers in your language, then check out the ones with just text translations. It's a small change that would make a big difference for players who care about localization.

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7. Smart Wishlist Tracking

"Never miss important updates"

Currently, users are notified when a game on their wishlist goes on sale. You can also notify users when:
- A game’s release date changes from an approximate date (e.g., Q3) to a specific date (e.g., 08.08.2025).
- A game’s release date is postponed from a specific date to an approximate date (e.g., from 08.08.2025 to Q2 2026).

Implementation:
• Use API to monitor changes in release dates for games on the user’s wishlist.
• Send notifications when the release date changes from approximate to specific or vice versa.
• Implement this feature using Steam’s notification system.

User Experience Deep Dive

Steam already notifies you when a game on your wishlist goes on sale. But what about release dates? Right now, you have to subscribe to the game's news to get updates, and that means wading through dozens of posts about merch, events, and dev blogs.

With smart tracking, you'd get a notification when a game's release date changes from "Q3 2025" to "August 8, 2025," or vice versa. It's a simple way to stay informed without the noise.

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8. Wishlist Release Calendar

Add a button that opens a modal window showing the release dates of games in the user’s wishlist, starting from the current month and beyond.

Preview:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3443569504


Implementation:
• Fetch release dates for all games in the user’s wishlist.
• Display them in a calendar view, grouped by month.

User Experience Deep Dive

If you have a big wishlist, sorting by release date can be a mess. Games with vague dates like "2025" get mixed in with ones that have specific dates, and if your list is too long, you might run into bugs or server issues.

A release calendar would solve this. You'd see all the games with confirmed release dates, organized by month. Want to see more? Just load the next three months. It's a clean, organized way to keep track of what's coming up.

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9. Activity Feed Game Info

"Get game info without leaving your feed"

Currently, when friends post screenshots, write reviews, or unlock achievements, users have to click through to the game's store page to get more information. You can add rich tooltips when hovering over game links in the activity feed, similar to the catalog search tooltips.

• Game title and header image
  
• Release date
  
• Publishers and developers
  
• Game series (if applicable)
  
• Early access status
  
• Language support (interface, voiceover, subtitles)
  
• Short description
  
• User tags
  
• Review summary (total reviews and percentage positive)

Implementation:
• Use the "IStoreBrowseService/GetItems" API endpoint to fetch game data
• Implement a hover tooltip component similar to the catalog search preview
• Cache game data to reduce API calls and improve performance

User Experience Deep Dive

When your friends post screenshots, write reviews, or unlock achievements, you have to click through to the game's store page to learn more. But what if you could hover over the game's name in your activity feed and see a tooltip with all the key details? Title, release date, developer, language support, and even a short description—all without leaving your feed.

It's a small change, but it would make browsing your activity feed way more informative. You'd get a quick sense of whether a game is worth checking out, all in one hover.

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10. Library Collection Roulette

"Random discovery within your collections"

Preview:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3450542967

• Random selection from user-created categories (collections)
  
• Priority weighting based on review quality (user-selectable checkbox)
  
• Advanced filters:
  
  • Exclude games with 100% achievements
    
  • Exclude games with any achievements unlocked
    
  • Exclude games with playtime over X hours (user-definable threshold)

Implementation:

• Client-side collection data retrieval from leveldb (path: {Steam}/htmlcache/Local Storage/leveldb)
  
• Achievement/playtime data via player data API endpoints
  
• Review quality algorithm using:
  
  • review_score
    
  • review_count
    
• Caching strategy (720h for static data, 48-168h for dynamic metrics)

This feature would empower users to:
• Rediscover forgotten games in specific collections
• Break choice paralysis in large libraries
• Surface high-quality titles through smart prioritization

User Experience Deep Dive

The main benefits of this feature are pretty straightforward, but let's break it down. Imagine you've created a collection called "Backlog" with 400 games. Now you're staring at it, completely paralyzed by choice. Where do you even start? Right now, there's no easy way to randomize your selection, especially if you want to prioritize highly-rated games or filter out ones you've already finished.

Here's the kicker: there are no third-party websites that can help you with this anymore. Because Steam moved all collection data to local storage (specifically, LevelDB files). That means tools and websites that used to pull your up-to-date collection data from the cloud can't access it anymore.

Let's say you've organized your library by genres. You've got a "RPG" collection with 200 games, but half of them are games you've already finished, and a quarter are ones you started but didn't like. Without a built-in roulette feature, you're stuck manually skipping through games you don't want to play. A roulette system with filters—like excluding games with 100% achievements or ones you've played for more than X hours—would solve this. You'd get a random game that actually fits your current mood, without the hassle of constant rerolls.

This feature isn't just about convenience; it's about rediscovery. It's about giving your backlog a second life by surfacing games you might have forgotten about or overlooked. And with the ability to weight the selection based on review scores or completion rates, you'd be more likely to land on a game you'll actually enjoy.

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11. DLC For Your Games Catalog Integration

"Discover relevant DLC at a glance"

Preview:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3451190133

• Visual highlighting of DLC matching owned games (purple gradient background)
  
• New filter to show only DLC for owned games
  
• Automatic parent game detection via API
  
• Real-time filtering without page reload

Implementation:

• Query user's owned apps from USERDATA_URL endpoint
  
• Fetch parent_appid for all DLC items via IStoreBrowseService
  
• Client-side comparison and UI highlighting
  
• New filter control in search sidebar

User Experience Deep Dive

This solves a very specific but common pain point. Currently, Steam Labs Experiment #15 shows DLC for owned games in a list format, but it lacks crucial features:

1. No sorting by price/release date
2. No integration with regular search
3. No way to filter upcoming DLC

Imagine this scenario: You're browsing upcoming releases sorted by date. Right now, you'd never know if that new DLC is for a game you own unless you manually check each one. With this feature:

- DLC matching your library gets instant visual treatment
- You can filter to ONLY see relevant DLC
- All standard sorting/filtering remains available
- Works seamlessly in regular search and upcoming views

This creates a bridge between the isolated "DLC For Your Games" experiment and Steam's powerful catalog tools - giving users the best of both worlds.

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These improvements could significantly enhance Steam's usability while utilizing existing infrastructure. Most features could be implemented through:
1. API endpoint extensions
2. Client-side UI components
3. Intelligent caching strategies

Each of these ideas is about making Steam more intuitive, transparent, and user-friendly. They're not just technical improvements - they're about giving players the tools they need to make better decisions and enjoy their time on the platform even more.