Irrelevant game recommendations

[gusztuszsombor]

When you check the page of a game, you ll get a couple suggestions above the review section, about games that are similar to the currently viewed one.

But I ve noticed recently that I almost get the same game suggestions, no matter what kind of games I am viewing.
I am mostly interested in roguelike, pixel graphics and indie games, and back then (lets say a year ago) I got great recommendations about similar games.

Now I see the new Assassins Creed, Monster Hunter, Dota 2, etc,.. all the time! Games that has nothing in common with the one on the page.

They changed the suggestion algorithm?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

It states why on the "More like this" page itself...

The tags customers have most frequently applied to X have also been applied to these products:

[Delerium75]

This annoys the crap out of me, too! Whatever genre game I'm browsing, whether it be rpg, strategy, indie, pixel art, action, adventure, rts, etc, whenever I check the similar games tab, about 75% of the suggestions are made up of Assassins Creed: Odyssey, Monster Hunter: World, GTA5, PUBG, CS:GO and other "triple-A" titles.
I think the above poster is incorrect; this has nothing to do with other users creating these suggestions via tags, and if it actually did, Steam is doing a piss poor job at converting that tag data into relevant search results. If I'm looking at a pixelart roguelite I want to see mainly other pixelart roguelites when checking for "more like this"!
I can't even get those AAA cashcows out of my search results by ignoring them....

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by Delerium75:

I think the above poster is incorrect; this has nothing to do with other users creating these suggestions via tags...

Then by all means click on the "See more" button and you look at the text given to you. It will be the same exact text I posted in my reply.

[lentinant]

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Originally posted by Delerium75:

I think the above poster is incorrect; this has nothing to do with other users creating these suggestions via tags...

Then by all means click on the "See more" button and you look at the text given to you. It will be the same exact text I posted in my reply.

:qr:

Even if you are right, and it is official policy of steam, this makes no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sense.

Hey, you like Sunless Skies? Check out those really similar games - Assassin's Creed Odissey, Monster Hunter World, Pathfinder Kingmaker, and, obviously, Dota 2! Yeah, I'm really sure those games are more similar to Sunless Skies, than, say, Sunless Sea.

[corpixgames]

This is a very serious problem. It affects all indie games sales. Steam support...if you read this: if the algorithm will stay this it is the end of the store. As a gamer, I'm not interested in AAA titles and it will actually kill all indie developers on the store. I hope gamers will fight to change this.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by lentinant:

Originally posted by cSg|mc-Hotsauce:

Then by all means click on the "See more" button and you look at the text given to you. It will be the same exact text I posted in my reply.

Even if you are right, and it is official policy of steam, this makes no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sense.

Hey, you like Sunless Skies? Check out those really similar games - Assassin's Creed Odissey, Monster Hunter World, Pathfinder Kingmaker, and, obviously, Dota 2! Yeah, I'm really sure those games are more similar to Sunless Skies, than, say, Sunless Sea.

They recommend games with at least 2 similar tags.

Sunless Skies...

Early Access
RPG
Adventure
Indie
Lovecraftian
Early Access
Steampunk
Story Rich
Rogue-like
Exploration

ACO...

Action
Open World
RPG
Adventure
Singleplayer
Stealth
Assassin
Historical
Third Person
Female Protagonist
Story Rich
Choices Matter
Violent
Parkour
Nudity
Gore
Sexual Content
Atmospheric
Great Soundtrack
Multiplayer

They share 3. Now look at the others and compare.

[anglerman]

I noticed this trend on literally any game I check. Be it a pixelart platformer or a roguelike, it still insists in Assassins Creed, Megaman 11, Tomb Raider and maybe if I'm lucky I get to see another (huge) indie like Stardew Valley.
It's getting out of hand.

[Coldscooter]

Yes this started happening around the start of the month. Almost all the game recommendations are pointing to only a handful of AAA titles (regardless of what title you're viewing from).

Indie devs must be taking a huge hit from this, as I basically see no indie titles at all.

@VALVE Please take a look at this. Thanks.

[Progorion]

Hi guys,

The system was changed around October 4th or 5th. Since then the recommendations are really OFF. We have a similar discussion in the developer group of steam (as game developers, not steam's developers), and we experienced a HUGE and SUDDEN drop in our traffic because of that issue.
Basically, it seems that only top seller games are recommended now. VALVE has not answered to our reports so far.
If that stays, by the way, it is game over for us - indies running a business. If you can, please report the issue to VALVE, because they often skip the forums. It is important to you as customers and to us as developers as well. Thank you very much!

[NS Plover]

So I was just looking at "Unavowed" which has tags:

"Adventure" "Indie" "Point and Click" "Story Rich" and "2D"

More like this has (and note that my preferences has "Early Access" turned OFF):

Rimworld:
"Early Access" "Base Building" "Survival" "Strategy"

House Flipper
"Simulation" "Building" "Realistic" "Design and Illustration"

"Chinese Parents"
"Simulation" "Casual" "Indie" "RPG" "Early Access"

Seriously, I should not have been shown either of the "Early Access" because I have said I don't want them. House Flipper is not remotely similar.

[ut]

Same here.
There are always the same 2 top sellers in my language. If I ignore them, then other top sellers with shared tags (which is really bad because top sellers with an indie tag or simulation tag or RPG tag will cover all games I want to check).
Also, it seems the list also shows games you have already bought or wishlisted, so something must be wrong there.

Edit*

Wow, it is much better now. It seems.

[Bigosaur]

I got a message from Valve. Yes, they have fixed it.

[billyoceansblues]

Apparently Lies of P is very similar to literally any game I look at, regardless of genre. mmk steam

[Spynion]

More like, why even recommend me games I ignored already, like free2play mobile games ported over, and any ubi and ea slop. Especially with bundles, if everything in the bundle(s) is ignored why would I care about it?