Valve has quietly rolled out a major overhaul to Steam’s monthly Top 10 list, aiming to simplify how users discover games and fix a long-standing issue with inconsistent updates. The newly automated system now lets players explore the platform’s top releases dating back to 2004.

There’s a reason Steam dominates the PC gaming landscape. Alongside its massive catalog, the platform offers countless tools that enhance digital experiences. But one feature — the monthly Top 10 chart — had been lagging behind, and Valve finally took notice. To address this, they’ve surprised everyone with a full-scale revamp of the feature within the Steam client.

We’re referring to the monthly list of the most popular new releases — a handy reference point for identifying the breakout titles of each period. “The monthly charts, which began in April 2019, are another way for players to discover a variety of new games gaining popularity on Steam,” Valve stated. “Unfortunately, we’ve been rebuilding them each month by hand, resulting in an uneven release pace, as we expected to complete all the necessary work each time. Until now!”

Now, Valve has scrapped the manual updates and fully automated the charts. Better yet, players can now dive into two decades’ worth of data. “Automating the process means we can now publish these lists exactly 14 days after the end of each month, which means we can highlight the most popular releases of the month sooner,” the team explained. “It also allowed us to use our time machine and travel back to 2004, performing calculations for all the games released on Steam; which means you can now also perform monthly searches from the old days.”

The new tiered format brings structure to the rankings

If you’re curious about Steam’s updated Monthly Top 100, you’ll be pleased to know it’s available to everyone. The list now highlights 50 games, sorted into gold, silver, and bronze tiers based on their performance during their debut period. Notably, popular DLCs that make the cut are also included. As for ranking criteria, Valve clarified: “The initiative looks at the revenue of the first two weeks for each game released during the month.” In other words, the overhaul has brought more clarity and consistency to one of Steam’s most useful features.

Source: 3djuegos