Valve Will Now Require Real Screenshots When Selling Games On Steam

Advertising can sometimes be deceptive because thanks to photoshop, makeup, and professional photography, a product might look better in print/on the web than in real-life. How many of you guys have walked into a restaurant, ordered something based on a photo, only to be disappointed? We’re sure we’ve all been there.

While we can’t really say much about food, as for gaming, the folks at Valve want to do something about it. The company has recently revised its guidelines where they now make it a requirement for developers to submit actual in-game screenshots if they want to sell a game on its Steam platform.

It seems that Valve is prioritizing real screenshots as opposed to concept art which can sometimes be misleading. A good example would be Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky in which many gamers felt deceived after purchasing the actual game. According to Alden Kroll, a UI designer at Valve, “We haven’t been super crisp on guidelines for screenshots in the past, so we’d like to take this opportunity to clarify some rules in this space.”

“When the ‘screenshot’ section of a store page is used for images other than screenshots that depict the game, it can make it harder for customers to understand what the product is that they are looking at.” However Kroll did not mention if Valve would actually check to see if the screenshots are legit, so it seems like for now it’s more about just ensuring that customers have a better idea of what they’re buying into.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Gaming
Tags: Steam (Valve), Valve