Skip to main content

Valve revamps Steam code review system to block perceived rigging

steam user ratings changes customerreviews
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Valve has made some significant changes to the way reviews work on Steam to try and curb an unscrupulous few from manipulating review scores. While some developers may have handed out free games and perks to those who give them positive reviews, that will no longer be possible, as now gamers who activated with a key will not be able to contribute to the overall score.

This problem is something Valve has purportedly been looking into for some time. It noticed that games which were activated via a key tended to have — on average — higher scores than those games that were purchased through Steam. Although most people were no doubt still being honest, clearly some people weren’t.

Recommended Videos

In some cases Valve believes people were deliberately paid off to give a positive review, or were at least thankful for receiving a free code and therefore less likely to complain. In other cases Valve thinks developers used alternative accounts to vote up their own games too.

This is something that Valve couldn’t permit to continue, which is why from now on reviews activated via a key, rather than through Steam directly, will not contribute to the recent or overall ratings for a game. You can still write the review and people can still mark it as helpful, but it won’t contribute to the overall rating of the game.

Valve admits in its breakdown that this will likely cause some game ratings to change quite fundamentally, with some perhaps losing all of their reviews altogether (in cases where there are only a few) or dropping into a lower category of game (to mixed, from positive, for example). However Valve argues that since any impacted reviews will still be visible, this is just something the developers will have to put up with.

Moving forward, Valve also pledges to look into the “brigading” of reviews, where a minority are able to influence how a game is presented through upvoting “helpful” reviews that align with their thoughts on a game — perhaps representing it as good when it’s bad and vice versa. It also wants to stop reviews that are mainly designed to be funny from dominating the “helpful” section, as that doesn’t help people to make a knowledgeable purchase.

What do you guys think of this move? Do you think it will encourage more developers to offer a demo for consumers to try?

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
EA removes Apex Legends from Steam Deck due to Linux cheating
A Legend Upgrade ability is used in Apex Legends.

Electronic Arts announced Thursday that it'll be removing Steam Deck and Linux players' access to its battle royale Apex Legends in an effort to combat cheating, effective immediately.

In a post on the Apex Legends forums (spotted by The Verge) an EA spokesperson said it made this decision as part of its anti-cheat efforts. Basically, EA found that many of the exploits and cheats it's trying to combat came through Linux distros. So it decided to block access for Linux users. And since Steam Deck runs on Linux by default (SteamOS is built from Debian and uses a layer called Proton to make Windows and Mac games compatible), that meant Steam Deck had to go.

Read more
Make sure you install the latest Steam Deck October update
A Steam Deck OLED sits on a table.

Valve released a big Steam Deck update this week in the Stable channel that the company says can improve performance for its handheld across the board, and even grant up to 10% more battery life for the original Steam Deck in certain situations.

The manufacturer releases consistent hotfixes and small updates to the Steam Deck beta channel, but they usually fix a couple of things that most players typically won't notice. However, SteamOS 3.6.19 is huge, with countless updates thanks in part to two big changes: a move to a more recent Arch Linux base, and an update to Mesa 24.1 for the graphics driver.

Read more
Steam Deck 2: everything we know so far
Steam Deck held between two hands.

It's a matter of when we'll see the Steam Deck 2, not if we'll see it. Valve has talked publicly multiple times about its plans for a next-gen Steam Deck, which shouldn't come as a surprise given that the original is easily the best handheld gaming PC you can buy.

Although the Steam Deck 2 is still a few years off, Valve has been dropping hints about the handheld for a while. Here's everything we know about the Steam Deck 2 right now, from the possible release date to details on specs and performance.
Steam Deck 2: release date speculation

Read more