Valve will soon implement some new restrictions on what can and cannot appear on the graphical assets that developers and publishers use in their Steam store listings. Starting September 1, game banner art (referred by Valve as "Capsules") can no longer include things like review scores, accolades, current sale discounts, and more.
These banner art pieces are meant to capture your attention. They usually feature the name of the game in big, custom fonts that is overlayed with some sort of key art piece for the game. More and more, developers and publishers have started to add additional information to images to lure potential customers in: Things like review scores from outlets, accolades like "Best Eldritch Horror 2021," and even sometimes promoting that they are on sale.
Well, no more! Starting September 1, Valve will have none of that nonsense! A new announcement from Valve shared some "New Rules for Graphical Asset Capsules" that those selling their games on Steam will have to adhere to.
- Content on base graphical asset capsules on Steam is limited to game artwork, the game name, and any official subtitle. For clarity, this means:
- No review scores of any kind, including Steam reviews or external news sources
- No award names, symbols, or logos
- No discount marketing copy (eg. no "On Sale Now" or "Up to 90% off" text)
- No text or imagery promoting a different product. This includes no marketing of sequels or other titles in the same franchise.
- No other miscellaneous text.
- We understand that partners are excited to talk about large updates and seasonal events, and customers are often excited to see these reflected in the game capsules. While this content is not allowed in base capsule assets (see rule #1 above), we do support this use case through Capsule Artwork Overrides with the following constraints:
- Must use Artwork Overrides - When including text on a graphical asset, this MUST be uploaded as an Artwork Override with a length limit of one month.
- Must localize any text - Any text included on a graphical asset MUST be localized into at least the same set of languages supported by the game.
- Only to describe new content - The only acceptable additional text on a game capsule is words describing a major update to the game content, a new seasonal event, battle pass, DLC, or similar new content for the game.
