Steam's Hand-Curated Discounts Section Goes Algorithmic in 2027

Valve will replace Steam's hand-curated Discounts and Events calendar with algorithmic recommendations in early 2027, showing 10x more games.

Valve has publicly confirmed it will move Steam's "Discounts and Events" section away from a manual, calendar-based curation system toward something "more dynamic and personalized for each customer." Today, the deals carousel on the store's homepage is filled either by Valve's own team or by partners booking slots through Steamworks. Under the new model, algorithms will decide which discounted games each individual shopper sees, with the full cutover expected in early 2027 and an exact date to be announced. Valve said it has already paused scheduling new curated placements, though developers with existing bookings keep their slots.

Valve argued that a hand-managed promotion calendar no longer fits a store with such varied audiences. "The constraint of a manually managed calendar doesn't make as much sense with such diverse customer tastes and so many relevant deals for customers available at any given time," the company explained. Under the old system, a game typically got a curated homepage slot only once per calendar year, with at least three months between promotions, and Valve mostly chose from its most-played and best-selling titles.

Valve spent recent months running an experiment, periodically swapping some curated deal spots for personalized recommendations. The company reports this let it show 10x more discounted games to customers in a given day, producing "meaningful increases in store page visits, wishlists, and cart additions." A concrete outside data point came from indie publisher Hooded Horse: according to Game Developer, CEO Tim Bender said one of the company's games went from just 14 visits from the Discounts and Events page over five months to more than 7,000 visits in a single month once featured, calling it the best traffic source in the entire store for that title.

The change could reshape how smaller games find audiences on an increasingly crowded storefront. PCGamesN reports that Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender called the shift "a big win for both players and developers," arguing that instead of one ill-tuned front-page appearance per year, games will now be eligible for visibility constantly and shown "at sensible frequencies to people who are actually potential buyers." He predicted that converting the highest-visibility curated spots into algorithmic ones would multiply an already dramatic improvement in indie discovery. GameDiscoverCo founder Simon Carless, who spotted the test before the announcement, described it as "a good move to help the little guys, done quietly."

Not everyone is fully sold. Rock Paper Shotgun voiced the common worry that another algorithm raises the question of who Steam will reward and punish, even while hoping the change surfaces smaller games over blockbusters. There was also early confusion about dynamic pricing: Game Developer's coverage clarifies that recommendations are going dynamic, not prices, so what changes is which games shoppers see, not what they pay. Valve acknowledged the system "will not be perfect right away" but expressed confidence it will produce better outcomes for both customers and developers.

The curated Daily, Midweek, and Weekend Deals calendar is expected to fully cease in early 2027, with Valve promising more timing details in the coming weeks. The company also committed to new and updated tools to help developers manage their own discounts and sale events, with the stated goal of letting teams focus on crafting compelling games and deals "and not spend time trying to convince someone at Valve to feature their products." It is the second major Steam discovery system handed to an algorithm in recent years, and the real test will come when every developer, not just test participants, relies on the personalized feed for homepage visibility.