New Steam features could make it easier not to get scammed

Valve may soon be rolling out new features in Steam, the popular digital platform for PC gaming. Datamining has uncovered code pointing to two notable additions: a feature that shows a game’s lowest price over the past 30 days and another that may predict how well a game will run on the player’s PC.

Price indicator feature

One of the new features found in the code refers to a “price history” and “30-day low.” That suggests Valve plans to show users the lowest recent price of a game. This should help prevent users from buying a game that hasn’t been on sale recently, or one that has just come off a temporary discount. In the European Union, the 30-day low price feature has already been available since June 2023, in line with new consumer protection rules under the EU’s Omnibus Directive.

Framerate estimator

Valve also appears to be developing an innovative feature that would let players get an estimated framerate for different configurations. According to collaborations spotted by dataminers, a player would be able to select an app and enter their PC configuration to receive a graph of estimated framerates. This could give players better insight into how well a game would perform on their hardware, and may lower the barrier for less experienced PC gamers.

Future updates

The exact date these features will become available to Steam users in other regions, such as the United States, is currently unknown. Still, the discussion around these updates suggests Valve is continuing to improve the user experience on its platform. For now, many players are waiting for official announcements about the future rollout of these innovative features.