ECI Games' 2025 Steam Discoverability Guide
It’s 2025 and Steam Discoverability still feels like it’s 40% science, 40% magic, and 20% pure luck. It’s still one of the least understood aspects of publishing on Steam, while being a factor that can make or break your release.
Developers and publishers alike would love to dissect the elusive Steam formula, fast tracking their game to maximized success. With almost 7,000 games released this year already on Steam, it becomes even more crucial to stand apart from the competition.
So, how do you improve your discoverability on Steam while avoiding wasted time and money on things that don’t work?
Back In 2023, Steam Shared Some Critical Information About Discoverability
In September 2023, Steam shared how games are featured and discovered by new players on the platform. The report broke down the different aspects of the Steam storefront, why games are placed there, and how their algorithms match players with games they think they’ll love.
As you can see, the report was illuminating. It revealed that many features people assumed would help discoverability were actually not that important. Wishlists, Early Access, Review Scores, all things you’d understandably expect to be critical weren’t quite so.
The biggest takeaway from the report was clear: Localization is the only guaranteed way to improve your visibility and discoverability on Steam.
This is largely still the case. Localization is the only guaranteed way to get your game shown to more players. You might ask, what localized languages, though? You should read our White Paper, The Age of FIGS is Over - White Paper, which breaks down what languages are popular on Steam, how they’re growing, and what languages to aim for.
But, since 2023 there has been some interesting changes in the way publishers are approaching Steam.
Recap
How Discoverability Works on Steam
Discoverability and The Algorithm
Many factors seem to influence discoverability on Steam, influencing algorithms for recommended games based on users’ behavior. Below are algorithm features that can affect visibility:
- Previous games played and playtime
A player’s recommended games are influenced by the games they’ve previously played and how long they spend playing said games. - Browsing and purchasing habits
The Steam algorithm takes notes on the games you browse, search, and purchase, which affects the games it places in your view. - Friend’s behavior and community interaction
Steam's algorithm also picks up on the games your friends are playing, sending you notifications, and basing recommendations on this and the community interactions you make.
Curated Feeds and Discoverability
Curated feeds can also impact a game's visibility. While this is not personalized for the user, it affects the games that the public might choose to play. The different charts on Steam include the following:
- Top-selling games
- New & trending
- Popular upcoming releases
- Specials and takeovers
The games featured on the charts are based on their performance, release, and are also dictated by editorial decisions.
User Engagement and Discoverability
This is often regarded as one of the most effective measures of increasing discoverability, based on genuine interest and interaction with your game. The following is taken into consideration:
- Game sales
- User reviews and ratings
- Community activity in forums, game guides, etc.
- Player retention and playtime data
Traffic Data Analytics
Developers have access to valuable data which records interactions with their game and where this comes from. This helps to define the source and utilize the methods that are working. The following is able to be monitored:
- Impressions and click-through rates
- Sources of traffic (e.g., searches, external links, etc.)
- Conversion rates from page views to purchases
Be Seen By More Players
What You Can Do In 2025
Steam Algorithms vs Human Preference
HowToMarketAGame published a fascinating article in January where they compared different perspectives when launching a game. They compared how Steam’s algorithms factor these into systematic discoverability, contrasted with how they affect players directly.
For instance, Steam has no issues with games launching without a trailer, but players will naturally want to see one.
Another great example are your initial reviews. Once you hit 10 reviews Steam will show an overall recommended or not recommended state, which we’re all familiar with (it’s the thumbs up or thumbs down symbol when browsing).
According to Valve, whether or not you have this has no effect on discoverability. However, as the original article highlights, many developers have reported a notable increase in traffic once they’ve hit that 10-review mark. This also makes sense to most of us who use Steam; if you can see a game’s recommended by its players, you’re more likely to take a look. The other benefit of this is that it helps the game stand out as an “actual game”. With the number of games releasing on Steam that get no traction, sometimes due to a lack of quality or scope, having it be clearly shown that people are actually playing will help it stand out from many of the lower quality titles.
It’s well worth checking out the full article if you’re interested in the difference between appealing to Steam’s algorithm and appealing to players. It’s easy to forget in the algorithm-driven world we live in that we are still ultimately trying to appeal to human players, rather than systems.
Languages, Tags, Reviews, and Accessibility
The best place to get direct information about how Steam looks at games is, unsurprisingly, Steamworks. Steam’s documentation on visibility lays out exactly what you should and shouldn’t be focusing on.
Languages
Localization matters. Naturally, Steam is less likely to highlight games to players if they’re not available in their native language. We’ve reached a stage in the industry where most developers and publishers appreciate the role of localization generally, but its importance for visibility is sometimes still missed. Comparatively, the cost of localization is far outweighed by the revenue it can allow you to generate from players globally. As mentioned earlier, if you want to know what languages to aim for on Steam, check out our white paper: The Age of FIGS is Over.
Tags
Making sure your game is tagged correctly is a critical aspect of ensuring visibility. This won’t be a surprise to many, if your game isn’t tagged as an RPG then players looking for RPGs won’t see it. While this isn’t exactly a revelation, it does highlight the importance of devoting time to set up your store page correctly and not approaching it with a “well, that’ll do” attitude.
Reviews
Interestingly, and more surprising than other aspects, review scores only matter algorithmically once they drop below 40%. It’s a surprisingly low barrier with few major titles ever dropping to such a poor rating. However, this should be looked at within the context discussed earlier about its effect on possible players. While Steam may have no issues featuring a game with 50% positive ratings, players are naturally less likely to purchase. So, while staying about 40% means Steam won’t have a problem, it doesn’t mean that players won’t.
Wishlists
Wishlists can be confusing. It gives you a dedicated user-base of interest, it doesn’t help highlight the game to other prospective players. This isn’t to say that wishlisting is useless, as Steam makes clear in the above screenshot. It’s the best way of making sure that interested players know about your games release, especially in the crowded space of Steam’s upcoming or newly released filters. Wishlisting is incredibly important but shouldn’t be used as the crux of your discoverability strategy.
Accessibility
Earlier this year, Steam announced that it would roll out searches based on accessibility features. These options include subtitle options, narrated game menus, camera comfort, and more. To further encourage accessibility in games, Valve is asking developers to fill out an accessibility support questionnaire to understand and identify what their game supports.
As well as being able to search for games based on these features, they will also be displayed on the right of the store page. While Valve isn’t making this compulsory for developers to add, they say that the practice is highly recommended. Therefore, players searching for accessible games may be more likely to find yours in a search if it caters to their desired features.
If you want to know about the intrinsic link between accessibility and localization, check out our article: Accessibility & Localization – Intrinsically Linked
There’s still a lot to think about
As with any kind of search engine optimization, quality is the most important thing. Making sure your game, store page, and other assets are properly set up with care and attention will do far more to help your discoverability than any specific tricks. Localization and correct tagging are two of the most direct ways to ensure your game is seen by players, and it’s worth remembering that you’re ultimately appealing to them. No matter how many tricks or features you utilize to increase discoverability, your game will only do well if players want to play it.
Algorithms are cool but players are better.
August 2025 Update:
On August 18, 2025, Steam announced exciting changes to Steam User Review Scores that highlight the importance of localization for releases on the platform.
Until now, Steam’s overall review scores were summarizing reviews received in all languages (even including languages that the game doesn’t support) and creating an overall rating. While providing a global sentiment is useful, many issues that players may mention in reviews can be exclusive to singular languages.
Now, Steam will instead be showing User Review Scores summarized from reviews in the users’ primary language. For example, English users will now see a Review Score based only on English reviews. It will still be possible for users to see language-agnostic ratings if preferred, but this will have to be set in their user settings.
The biggest departure from the current system is that Localized Review Scores will require 2,000 public, visible reviews for the game, with at least 200 in the language being summarized. This is notably more than the 10 reviews required for the standard Overall Review Score, which Steam explains as:
“this is because we wanted to be pretty confident in the language-specific score before showing it to users.”
This makes a quality localization more important than ever. There’s no way of buoying reviews with other languages or only caring about your English-language release. Every language you’re supporting will need to be localized with care and respect for the target region or language. It’s never been more important to plan your localization thoroughly and ensure a strong release in every single language you’re supporting.