Steam is getting some large upgrades for sport demos

Valve has launched some modifications to Steam that ought to make it simpler to seek out and set up playable sport demos. In a new occasions weblog put up, Steam stated the “Nice Steam Demo Replace” was based mostly on developer and participant suggestions, with new performance that makes demos behave extra like standalone video games hosted on the platform.

For one, demos can now have a retailer web page that’s fully separate from the primary sport, permitting builders to show demo-specific content material like trailers, screenshots, and supported options. These pages may also show buttons to each set up the demo and go to the primary sport’s retailer web page, and permit gamers to go away demo-specific critiques.

And if a demo turns into accessible for a sport that customers have on their wishlists, or from a developer that they observe, these customers can now be notified through e-mail or cell alerts. Demo listings also can now seem on the identical lists and class pages as free video games, such because the “New & Trending” part of Steam’s homepage charts. Alongside free video games, customers might even see demos showing extra regularly as Steam says it’s made “some modifications to the thresholds” with a view to “higher steadiness them with paid merchandise.”

Different new options on this replace embody the flexibility so as to add demos to Steam libraries with out instantly putting in them, permitting demos to be put in even when the person already owns the complete sport, and making it simpler to take away demos by right-clicking on them. When the demos are uninstalled they’ll even be faraway from the person’s library.

The visibility modifications launched on this replace might resurface older demos on person accounts, with Steam saying “We’ve tried our greatest to scrub up the demos that we anticipate you don’t care about anymore, however we might have missed some.”

Amusingly, Steam added a notice within the “occasionally requested questions” part of the weblog for customers who don’t know that Steam’s demo icon is predicated upon the Compact Disc, not a dinner plate. Am I so previous that we’re actually on the level of modernizing the save icon / floppy disk gag?