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Thus far, the Steam Labs Experiments have already proven to be quite the success for Valve. These experimental features add in or change some level of functionality within Steam. If they prove to be a success among testers, Valve will graduate these experiments to the big time and make them a new feature for everyone on Steam to enjoy.
The latest experiment kicked off today. Steam Labs Experiment 009: The News Hub is now available. The News Hub is a new, personalized area where you can easily find updates, announcements, and events for the games you play or have any sort of an interest in.
You can read through the Hub at your leisure or opt-in to receive email and mobile alerts. This sounds like a great feature for getting the game updates you want all in one place. One of the biggest issues I've had with Steam over the years is how news was handled. For the longest time, you either had to see updates for every game in one long feed or you could browse all of the news for just one game at a time. There was no real granularity there. It was just one extreme to the other.
Now, it looks like you have a lot of filtering options at your disposal. News items are already broken down by "Live and Recent" with a "Coming Soon" news section above that in the main body of the page. The left side includes toggleable filters that allow you to select which news items items you actually want appearing in your feed. Don't care about seeing news about livestreams? No problem, just disable it. You can also click a gear under each news post to filter out specific games or news types.
You can try out Steam Labs Experiment 009: The News Hub right now.
Discover all of the cool events, news, and activities happening in your games in one place with the new Steam News Hub! Whether you're at work, on the bus, or playing at home, you can now browse a personalized hub to easily find the updates, announcements, and events from the games you play and games you are interested in. Plus, learn about upcoming events with options to get email or mobile reminders so you can jump right in when the event is live.
Here are some highlights of what you'll find with the News Hub:
Highlighting live events - First up, you'll notice the currently active events front and center so you can easily jump right in on something that is happening right now or just started. Whether that is a live stream with the developer, a bonus points weekend in your favorite free-to-play, or new content that has just been added to your game.
Recent events - As you scroll down the page, you will see events and announcements from your games based on how recent they are. Quickly find all the cool stuff that has happened in your games recently!
Upcoming events - Scroll up to see events that are coming in the future. Set reminders with two clicks for the ones you don’t want to miss.
Events and announcements from your games and other sources - By default, there are five main ways that events and announcements can appear in your feed:
Mobile-friendly - The event hub is designed with mobile use in mind too, so you can keep up with your favorite games when you're out and about. Please give it a look on your phone or tablet and let us know of any feedback you have.
More to come - in the coming weeks, we plan to add more options to personalize your News Hub, additional sources for news, and a new overview page to give you a quicker snapshot of the most relevant events for you.
Here are some highlights of what you'll find with the News Hub:
Highlighting live events - First up, you'll notice the currently active events front and center so you can easily jump right in on something that is happening right now or just started. Whether that is a live stream with the developer, a bonus points weekend in your favorite free-to-play, or new content that has just been added to your game.
Recent events - As you scroll down the page, you will see events and announcements from your games based on how recent they are. Quickly find all the cool stuff that has happened in your games recently!
Upcoming events - Scroll up to see events that are coming in the future. Set reminders with two clicks for the ones you don’t want to miss.
Events and announcements from your games and other sources - By default, there are five main ways that events and announcements can appear in your feed:
- From a game in your library
- From a game on your wishlist
- From a game you chose to follow from their store page
- From a game that Steam recommends based on the kinds of games you play
- From the Steam Blog (everyone) and Steamworks Blog (if you are a Steamworks developer)
Mobile-friendly - The event hub is designed with mobile use in mind too, so you can keep up with your favorite games when you're out and about. Please give it a look on your phone or tablet and let us know of any feedback you have.
More to come - in the coming weeks, we plan to add more options to personalize your News Hub, additional sources for news, and a new overview page to give you a quicker snapshot of the most relevant events for you.
Before the big UI update that stuff used to be on the front page of the library, but now that's full of people's dumbass screenshots i don't care about.