You know how sometimes you look at some screenshots of a game, it melts your eyeballs – and then when you play the game yourself it doesn’t quite look as shiny as those marketing images led you to believe it would?
That’s the nature of bullshots, a common thing in the gaming industry, where the images tend to be rendered at higher resolution and shrunk down, stuffed with extra fine detail you likely wouldn’t see in the game proper. It’s a bit of a shady marketing tactic- and Valve wants it to go away.
Likely spurred on by the potential legal backlash affecting No Man’s Sky and some of its perhaps dubious marketing material, Valve is putting an end to bullshots on Steam.
“We haven’t been super crisp on guidelines for screenshots in the past, so we’d like to take this opportunity to clarify some rules in this space,” says Alden Kroll, a UI designer at Valve in a Steamworks post. “When the ‘screenshot’ section of a store page is used for images other than screenshots that depict the game, it can make it harder for customers to understand what the product is that they are looking at.”
“We ask that any images you upload to the ‘screenshot’ section of your store page should be screenshots that show your game,” he says. “This means avoiding using concept art, pre-rendered cinematic stills, or images that contain awards, marketing copy, or written product descriptions.”
While it doesn’t seem that Valve will be strictly policing things, their intent is for developers to “show customers what your game is actually like to play.”
And I have no real problem with that.
Last Updated: November 2, 2016
VampyreSquirrel
November 2, 2016 at 13:36
I’m pretty sure every picture of Geoff is a bullshot.
Admiral Chief - Dragonborn
November 2, 2016 at 13:37
No, he is even more majestic IRL!
I GOT YOUR BACK BRO!
Dungeon of JJ
November 2, 2016 at 13:42
Bootlicker 😛
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 2, 2016 at 13:42
*mageofftick
VampyreSquirrel
November 2, 2016 at 13:51
Never seen Geoff look that same as a pic that’s been taken of him… EVER.
PROPAGANDA!
Dungeon of JJ
November 2, 2016 at 13:53
I bet he’s Russian. 😛
VampyreSquirrel
November 2, 2016 at 14:28
Nah, he just looks like a different Asian guy every time I see him (which isn’t often)
b1nd3r
November 2, 2016 at 15:14
clearly someone wants the next give away XD
Admiral Chief - Dragonborn
November 2, 2016 at 15:22
Hah, that never works here.
I’m on the forever-excluded-from-all-random.org-list
Geoffrey Tim
November 2, 2016 at 15:55
Thanks bro.
Dungeon of JJ
November 2, 2016 at 13:38
Poor ARK
b1nd3r
November 2, 2016 at 15:15
ark has no issues with this all those shots are actual screenshots, you just need a 6 billion dollar pc to make them 🙁
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 2, 2016 at 13:40
Wonder how long it’ll take before I read some dev’s whiny rant about this ruining his ability to sell his game.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 2, 2016 at 13:41
Digital homicide would’ve been the first if they were still around
Dungeon of JJ
November 2, 2016 at 13:41
That’s like Sean Murray saying that telling the truth would’ve ruined the selling of his game.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 2, 2016 at 13:42
I guess Ubisoft will need to put in some actual work on their games graphics to make sure the screenshots look nice
* Spoiler – They wont
Andre Fourie
November 2, 2016 at 14:15
Graphically The Division isn’t bad at all for one?
Admiral Chief - Dragonborn
November 2, 2016 at 14:15
I loved The Division, hated the Dark Zone
Andre Fourie
November 2, 2016 at 14:35
I still play it. Created a whole new agent and leveled up again which made me love it again. Dark Zone sucks unless you go in with a team, then it can be fun. New update did wonders for the game. Its actually an awesome game but you need breaks as it becomes a bit repetitive.
Admiral Chief - Dragonborn
November 2, 2016 at 15:22
I really want to update and get stuck in it again, but we are a bunch of LAZZY gamers currently trying to survive in 7 days to die
Andre Fourie
November 2, 2016 at 15:50
The changes that 1.4 brought are actually quite good. Solo players like myself have more fun now. I was actually able to do a Challenging mission by myself for the first time.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 2, 2016 at 14:47
Not at all
b1nd3r
November 2, 2016 at 15:17
Imagine the correct screenshots of that broken assassin`s creed game on pc XD most people would have thought it was a porno probably would have got more sales :O
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 2, 2016 at 15:23
XD
geel slang
November 2, 2016 at 16:00
Have you seen Assassin’s Creed Syndicate graphics? Its still one of the best looking games around.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 2, 2016 at 16:02
I’ve bought the game on sale. Part of my backlog. I’m actually excited to play it eventually
Dungeon of JJ
November 2, 2016 at 13:42
I want to see a screenshot of the game run at required specs and a similar running at recommended
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 2, 2016 at 13:43
Sure, here’s Uncharted 4 on PC before and after 😛
http://www.clker.com/cliparts/3/K/f/z/x/O/square-black-box-th.png
http://www.clker.com/cliparts/3/K/f/z/x/O/square-black-box-th.png
Dungeon of JJ
November 2, 2016 at 13:47
BLOCKED. Apparently my employer finds that offensive.
Alien Emperor Trevor
November 2, 2016 at 13:53
What… Hammer or the link? 😀
Dungeon of JJ
November 2, 2016 at 13:57
I WISH I could block Hammer.
No I’m just kidding. Hammer is cool. Other people, on the other hand!!!! they’re okay, I guess. 😛
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 2, 2016 at 14:11
He finds black squares offensive? O_o
Dungeon of JJ
November 2, 2016 at 14:16
Racist! XD
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 2, 2016 at 14:47
He sure is 😛
Dungeon of JJ
November 2, 2016 at 13:49
Here’s ARK
http://i.imgur.com/3RxDXxv.jpg
http://static4.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/1552/15524586/2881567-0003.jpg
Dungeon of JJ
November 2, 2016 at 13:50
Plot twist, you can’t run either at 60fps 😛
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
November 2, 2016 at 14:06
XD
Dane
November 2, 2016 at 14:26
Here’s CS:GO. It’s on the steam store so it must be legit?
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/50b55cf41e2c620fd766344ad4e5bd3ae085e7d98db98c0bada426cdf9066969.jpg
Admiral Chief - Dragonborn
November 2, 2016 at 13:46
Good idea
Andre Fourie
November 2, 2016 at 13:58
Screw the cinematics. They should market games with actual gameplay footage.
Ottokie
November 2, 2016 at 14:14
I am pretty sure NMS had a good weight on this decision. They even had a custom warning message on the NMS steam store page.