Steam release dates are about to get a lot less confusing

Valve is changing how developers are able to show release dates on Steam, and while it means an end to the delightfully goofy custom text many games use, it's also going to make date displays a whole lot more consistent and less confusing.

Basically, as of January 1, every release date you see on Steam will fit into one of five categories. You might see the exact date (as Valve's example, Aug 24, 2023), the month and year (August 2023), the quarter (Q3 2023), the year (2023), or simply "coming soon". Developers will be required to enter a specific date into Steam's back-end, but they'll be free to change that date at any time up to the game's release. They'll then choose one of those five options from a drop-down menu.

A quick glance at Steam's upcoming releases page will probably clue you in on why this is happening. Games releasing on the immediate horizon show dates like "Oct 28, 2022," "28.10.22 ab 18:30," "2022年10月28日," and "VeRY SOOn".

"Our current hodge-podge of coming soon displays leaves a lot to be desired," Valve explains in its announcement. "Some information can be missing or incomplete. Worst of all, the custom text field we used to provide has no localization support, which creates a confusing and inconsistent experience for players across the globe. One-off jokes or references don’t translate, and date descriptions vary from place to place."

The sad consequence of all this is that the goofy custom release date text that often appears on the Steam store will disappear. Sadly, Dwarf Fortress will no longer be reminding us that "time is subjective" as of January 1 - though given how the devs have been hinting that the new version of Dwarf Fortress is coming "sooner than you might think," maybe it won't even have to face the cutoff.

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