With Steam currently sitting comfortably as the most popular online storefront for PC gaming, it seems Valve has quickly formed their coveted gaming service into an incredibly well-rounded, player-friendly hub for users to enjoy. However, with the likes of Epic Games currently growing significantly in the same space as Steam, it seems the company has recently been pulling out all the stops to make sure its the most desirable PC gaming store on the web, with big sales, events, and exclusives.
It seems there biggest new venture may come in a few months, however, with new reports claiming that Valve could be looking at integrating a loyalty system centered around rewarding players for using the online store. The news itself comes from Twitter user Pavel Djundik, who discussed some of the supposed features of the system as well as providing some datamining screenshots as proof.
According to Djundik, the service will allow players to wrack up points based on a number of factors, with users supposedly able to spend the in-store currency on a number of rewards. These can supposedly range from items and badge levels to discounts which they could use to purchase other games on Steam. The idea does fall in line with some of the more recent Steam sales, which offered users points for completing certain activities - such as writing reviews or playing a certain amount of hours on a game - or buying titles on the store. Players could then exchange these points for discounts or specific items.
Alongside this, it seems the system will also be adding the ability for players to react to Steam reviews, with Djundik posting a picture displaying what these options could be. The reactions in the screenshots are deep thoughts, heartwarming, hilarious, hot take, poetry, and helpful. Many have already pointed out in replies to the post that a reaction system could lead to more trouble than Valve might be expecting, with players using the reactions to spam user reviews. Only time will tell.
Overall, it seems like a fantastic way to bring the millions of Steam players together into more of a community, especially if worthwhile incentives are involved. With Epic Games Store attracting more and more fans, it would be good to see Steam begin to entice fans with its own unique selling points unavailable anywhere else. Offering players discounts to interact with the site's many features may just be that big incentivization to make Steam everyone's central hub for PC gaming.