Valve has implemented numerous improvements to the Steam platform throughout 2024, benefiting players, developers, and publishers alike. The scale of these changes is evident in a recent post summarizing the platform's progress during the year.

In their review of 2024, Valve highlighted the successes of Steam, the leading digital game distribution platform, which underwent numerous transformations and enhancements.

Valve's post categorizes its progress into three key areas: improvements for both users and developers, and data illustrating the platform's current state.  User activity played a significant role in these achievements, with Steam users repeatedly breaking records, including recently surpassing a milestone of 40 million concurrent online accounts.

The post declares 2024 as the best year for new game releases, witnessing a tenfold revenue increase since 2014, substantially exceeding previous years' performance.  (This "new release revenue" refers to the gross revenue generated within the first 30 days of a game's launch on Steam.)  Over 500 games surpassed $250,000 in revenue, a 27% increase compared to 2022.

Valve also acknowledges the platform's global reach, and the widespread success of new releases. Notably, this includes the achievement of a studio from Malaysia, a country whose users represent only 0.5% of Steam's global traffic.

A significant portion of Valve's post focuses on outlining the platform's changes for users, developers, and publishers releasing games on Steam.  Certain improvements benefit both players and developers. For example, revisions to game demos addressed the misleading "prologue" issue while improving the visibility and presentation of demos on Steam.

Valve also highlighted initiatives like the Steam Next Fest and themed sales events, organized by individual publishers or centered around specific genres.  These Valve-sponsored events are believed to have incentivized the development of more game demos, revitalizing a feature that had seemed to be declining in recent years.

Steam users have also benefited from various other changes, including a revamped shopping cart and private game features, updates to the Steam Workshop, improvements to family sharing, enhanced review sorting and game descriptions, and expanded game recording options.  New features, like distinguishing achievements tied to DLC and providing more information on Early Access titles (a paid model offering pre-release access to games), have also been implemented.

Beyond the aforementioned changes, developers and publishers have seen significant improvements to the Steam platform. The option to schedule longer-term discounts for game releases, enhancements related to the daily deals feature, and a new trading card editor are just a few of the new tools designed to streamline developers' workflow.  Additional features related to VR games and the Steam Deck portable console have also been introduced.

Valve referenced a detailed document addressing numerous potential questions and outlined changes made to comply with German regulations (following a legal change affecting the release of games without age ratings).

Looking ahead, in the first quarter of 2025, Valve introduced further changes, including prohibiting mandatory in-game advertisements and providing clearer information on whether Early Access games are still actively being developed. However, this feature might negatively impact developers who are actively working on their games.  Valve plans to continue gathering feedback from both players and developers, recognizing their crucial role in shaping the numerous improvements made to Steam in recent years.