Valve has rolled out an update on Steam that introduces ratings tailored to specific languages

Valve has refined Steam's user review system to focus on specific languages, aiming to give "a better indication of user sentiment."

Image credit: Valve / Steam

On August 18, 2025, Valve outlined this change in a news announcement. The platform now displays reviews compiled from feedback in a user's own language for certain titles. This is part of Valve's "ongoing effort" to help consumers make well-informed choices on the platform.

Previously, Steam computed an overall score based on all positive feedback globally, categorizing games with an overall score such as mostly positive or mixed, prominently shown alongside other key details like the release date. With the new system, when a game has "more than 2,000 publicly visible reviews," and over "200 written in a given language," those reviews will determine the displayed score for that language.

Valve mentioned that it raised these thresholds intentionally, as compared to the ten reviews needed for an overall score, to ensure confidence in the language-specific score visibility.

This update implies that users could see different review scores for the same game depending on the language, which adds nuance to user perceptions across different regions. For instance, as of July 2025, The Sims 4's Steam page reflected scores of Very Positive both recently and overall. Presently, the English review score is showcased in place of the previous global score.

Valve highlighted possible variations in customer experiences due to factors like translation quality or regional references. This nuanced scoring aims to better reflect the diverse experiences of its vast player base, thus providing clearer guidance to potential buyers.

Users interested in exploring other languages' scores can do so through the language breakdown at the reviews section’s top. While the default shows language-specific scores, there's flexibility to return to the comprehensive global score system via user settings.

Valve acknowledges that updates to user reviews might be scrutinized, and transparency has been a priority. The system provides features to enable or disable certain functions, allowing users to examine reviews through various lenses.