Part by part, Valve has been making upgrades to the Steam platform for years now, focusing on the store, the client, the overlay, and other aspects. The next target has now been revealed to be the Steam Workshop, the built-in modding platform for sharing and installing user modifications for Steam games.
The browsing, filtering, and discovery sides of Steam Workshop are being overhauled completely.
The opening page of the Workshop is being widened to show even more modded items and larger previews. Developers can configure filters to apply for specific item types as well, while filtering on the main page is being made a much faster process than before.
Next, a magnifying glass icon is available on the corner of each item on this page now, letting users enter quick view mode to see screenshots, subscribe, favorite, and vote up without leaving the space or opening another tab. Lastly, under-the-hood page improvements should make the Workshop function and load better on mobile devices, the Steam Deck, and Steam Big Picture Mode.
Valve added that Steam Workshop now has over 50 million user-made items uploaded to it, with millions of users jumping in regularly to use the platform for their modding needs. The number of supported games is now sitting at over 3,000 as well.
"Millions of players regularly subscribe to and vote on items," adds Valve. "While we"ve added features and updated the Workshop over the years, we felt it was time to make some bigger improvements to the overall user experience. Through that lens, the Browse page was at the top of the list."
To try out the new Workshop while it"s in testing, Steam users can switch over to it by clicking the "View Workshop Beta" button that"s on any game"s Workshop browse page. For example, check out the Halo: The Master Chief Collection"s official Workshop here and click the button to see the difference.
Valve said the beta can go for weeks or months depending on feedback and bugs it uncovers, while also asking users to give their reactions to the changes on this discussion page. The company wants to also overhaul other pages of the Workshop after these enhancements are fully integrated.