Steam has undergone some serious changes today, and one change in particular spells success for both the games that you pay for, and the free-to-play games that are soaring up the Steam charts. When combined together, both categories can step on each others’ toes, but they’re now separated, allowing for ease of browsing.
If you boot up Steam right now, you should see a new tab on the store page dubbed ‘Trending Free’! This will be full of free-to-play games, demos, and benchmarking tools that are currently popular on the digital storefront. As for your ‘New and Trending’ tab, it should now be packed full of premium titles, including some that would otherwise have been hidden away under a wave of free stuff.
The reason why this is actually pretty good for Steam and its users is twofold. For one, let’s look at The Black Myth: Wukong benchmark demo that’s currently doing well. Before, that would have taken a spot on the main ‘New and Trending’ tab on Steam. But it’s not a game, really. It’s a test demo so people can make sure their rig can run the game, and so that they can learn how well they can run it. Now, this benchmark demo, in its own tab, is still getting its moment in the spotlight, but it’s not taking the position of actual games.
Also, if you’re looking specifically the hotest new free games on Steam, there’s a single tab for you to get exactly what you’re looking for. You don’t have to scroll past a bunch of new $60 AAA releases, you can get a specific tab that’ll only provide free experiences. A win-win.
What are your thoughts on this change? Do you like it, or hate it? let us know!
