steam algorithmic discovery
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I disagree that it necessarily kills niche discovery. If the algorithm prioritizes similar mechanics over raw popularity, it could actually help specific players find weird indie gems they would have missed in a generic list.
how does this affect 'new and trending' tags if the algo only pushes what is already selling?
Look at the Amazon transition to personalized storefronts. Conversion rates went up, but long-tail discovery for niche products dropped significantly.
For small devs, a deep discount used to be a way to break into a new audience. Now, if the algorithm does not already see a connection, that sale price is essentially invisible.
This could mean we stop seeing the same five AAA games on every sale page... maybe we will get more curated suggestions for those hyper-specific sub-genres... imagine the possibilities for niche simulations!
This is the TikTok-ification of the store. We are moving toward a 'for you' page that kills genre-bending titles. Why risk showing a player something they might hate when you can just give them more of the same?
The documentation mentions that the 'Special Offers' tab now prioritizes based on play history. It is unclear if a truly global, non-filtered view of all current sales will still exist.
Didn't we see a similar pivot with the Discovery Queue a few years ago? I wonder if they are just rebranding an old failure or if the backend is actually different this time.