Steam improves how demos “appear and behave” in your library and on the Steam store

Steam has updated how demos “appear and behave” within the Steam library.

In a post to the official website, Valve said that with “thousands of playable demos launching on Steam every year, and millions of players trying them out, we’ve noticed some trends in feedback from both developers and players about the process and functionality. We’ve put together an update based on that feedback”.

Going forward, you’ll be able to add demos to your library without having to immediately install them. Just like full games, you can simply click “add to library” and download later on them when you’re ready.

They also “behave more like free games” in that they’ll now appear in all the same sections and lists, including the new and trending chart.

Perhaps best of all, Steam will now automatically notify you if a demo becomes available for a game you have on your wishlist.

“Demos can be installed even if you already own the full game,” Valve adds. “Primarily, this will make it easier for developers to test demos, but it will also help players more easily manage installing/uninstalling demos.”

You can also explicitly remove demos from your account, and when you choose to uninstall a demo, it will be scrubbed completely from your library, too.

“By default, free demos appear as a button on the full game’s store page. But, developers have been asking for a way to enable a full store page to better describe the contents of the demo, add separate screenshots, upload a trailer, and specify supported features,” Valve explains.

“So, that is now possible and you’ll find that clicking on a demo sometimes loads a full demo store page while other times will take you to the full game’s page with a button to install the demo.

“If developers have chosen to enable a store page for their demo, it will also be possible for players of the demo to post user reviews for the demo. These reviews and review score will appear on the demo store page just like reviews for any other free game on Steam.”

ICYMI, a Steam app for Sony’s PlayStation VR2 headset is due for release on 6th August. The free, official app will allow Steam users to play games on the virtual reality headset, as well as use the PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers.

Use of the app will also require the PC adapter, which was unveiled in June and will release on 7th August.