Steam Prepares to Roll Out Revamped Library Page
Valve was on hand at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco this week to announce something big. No, it wasn’t Half-Life 3 (it’s never Half-Life 3). Valve is rolling out a long overdue redesign of the Steam library page. It’s much more visually appealing with more sorting options and tools for developers to engage with players. Now you’ll really be able to appreciate all those games you bought on sale and never got around to playing.
The redesign will come with a homepage that shows games as large thumbnails — it looks a bit like the Steam Big Picture UI. Games you’ve played recently will be featured at the top with buttons to re-launch them. It can also surface games you might not have played lately or games that recently got major patches. The library will also provide easy access to DLC, so you can see what you already own and add new packs more easily.
The current Steam library is light on sorting options — all you can do is switch between alphabetical and recently played. After the new version rolls out, you’ll be able to sort using Steam’s tag system. So, you can filter by games that include open-world or multiplayer elements. When you find the game you want, Steam will feature much more information on the library page. You’ll be able to check on updates, events, and information from your friends who play the game. It should save you from jumping into the store or community pages as often.
Developers on Steam will have the option to announce special events and game updates inside the library. You can set reminders for such events, but players can disable these pings if they want. That all ties into a new Events home page associated with the library. The Events feed will list things like tournaments and live streams from all over Steam. You can also choose to restrict it to only show events from games that are in your library. Valve says developers will get tools that measure engagement with these notification features.
Steam is testing the revamped library in a closed beta right now, but there’s no specific timeline for release. The current plan is to roll it out to everyone in a few months. So, much sooner than Half-Life 3.
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