Steam update already helping indie discoverability

Last week Valve updated the Steam store via the Discovery Update, a change that most notably included the addition of a new recommendation system and the introduction of Steam Curators (you can see/follow our list of recommendations here).

One of the developers behind indie shooter Insurgency, Andrew Spearin, has recently posted a blog on Gamasutra that reveals a huge increase in traffic to the game's store page, as well as an increase in sales.

While at this stage it's still only anecdotal proof that the new features are working, it'll no doubt be a pleasing development for a studio that, like many others, struggles to get their game known in the public space.

Visits to our store page (recorded by Google Analytics) went from 5,800 on Sunday to over 21,500 on Monday [Update: Tuesday was 83,284]. Our sales were up for a typical Monday as well. Another valuable number is being on 138,000 user wishlists, as that will help estimate copies sold during the next sale.

As for Curators, I'm unsure of how much impact they directly have in the above numbers. I think the majority of that traffic is from the new recommendations system based on what you've viewed on Steam, games/genres you play, and what your friends play and recommend.

However, we are recommended by TotalBiscuit along with 94 other Curators. This Curators list also represents high priority targets to become a cornerstone of our marketing efforts. We now want need those top Curator recommendations. They represent a potential new audience to reach that is already a few clicks away from purchase. 

The User Reviews % is the new Metacritic score. As a customer, I buy what my friends recommend (and what's on sale) in conjunction with the overall consensus. I value honest reviews and can usually call out the bullshit ones. I've read more articulate, insightful, and objective reviews written by players than by games journalists.

Ouch, well, he wasn't talking about our review there, as we didn't write one (the game just wouldn't work on our rig at launch, but we've got it working now and we can report that it's a good game if you're into shooters with a more tactical edge).

The game in question almost doesn't matter here, what's important is that the changes introduced by Valve are having a positive impact for indie developers, which is key because since the floodgates opened on Steam, it's becoming increasingly hard for games to get noticed as more and more titles land on the platform.

One more plug: to see Gamereactor's Steam Curator page, head this way and hit the follow button.