After a couple months in beta, an update to the Steam store has rolled out for all users. It adds new sections like a personalized release calendar, tweaks existing features like the “popular upcoming” list, and displays higher-resolution game art, among other things.
In my experience, the default reaction when a piece of software or a website updates its design is to be pissed off, and indeed, some people are pissed off. In the comments on the update post, there’s more than one instance of the phrase “hot garbage,” and one person declared that the new design is “revolting” and that they don’t want to use Steam at all anymore. Geez.
Plenty of others say they’re happy with it. I think it’s fine! In thinking about it, I was struck by how not-mad I am whenever Steam updates the store or client. I curse Photoshop daily for not working like it did in 2005, and if it were possible to strangle UI elements, I’d squeeze the life out of every AI button that gets in my way. But Steam—it’s always been fine!
My colleagues don’t entirely agree. Wes Fenlon wrote in 2024 that he was experiencing an existential crisis after Valve moved the ‘open screenshot’ button, as one example.
I’m sure if I racked my brain I could come up with a long list of things that annoy me about Steam’s design, new or old—maybe you’ll jog my memory in the comments—but some of the other software I use daily is so bad that Steam glistens by comparison.
How are you feeling about the new Steam store refresh? Sound off in the poll and comments below.
