Steam Reviews Now Allow Anyone To Submit And Rate

In an update rolled out earlier today, Valve made it possible for Steam users to post reviews (or review snippets) to the store page of any game.

Steam users simply need to be logged in, and access the Steam store page for the game they wish to review. Previously, users were able to post reviews to games which were only visible to users on their friends list. All of the reviews written under the previous system are still in place, and can be selected to be publicly displayed by selecting the proper option on the Steam Store page for the game in question.

Steam users also have the ability to up-vote/down-vote any review they happen to find useful or useless, respectively. The reviews of one user are all sorted through their profile, so reading up on a favorite reviewer is a relatively simply process.

The reviews collected for a game do not affect the game’s “score” featured on the right hand side, within a Store page. Valve did comment that they are “looking to add that during the beta. Many products on Steam change significantly over time as the game or software is updated and new content is added. In order to form a score that accurately reflects the current state of a product, we first need to gather and evaluate the data from reviews.”

Developers can also comment on the reviews, and much like in Steam Greenlight, developer interactions will be highlighted for all to see. Developers do not have the option to delete reviews, however they can flag a review if the content is misleading or abusive.

Read Valve’s fullabout the new reviews system.