Official Group for Steamworks Development Support

New Rules For Graphical Asset Capsules

It's our goal to make it as clear and straightforward as possible for customers to find games to buy and play on Steam. Recently, we've noticed more text, award logos, and even review scores being included by game developers in their graphical asset images. This made us realize our guidelines haven't been as clear as they should be. As a result of not having clearly-defined rules, we've seen additions to graphical assets that are creating a confusing and sometimes even inaccurate experience for customers.

For example, some game logos themselves have become so small that it's hard for players to tell what the name of the game is. In other cases, graphical asset images are so cluttered with award logos and ratings that it is distracting and hard to read. Some capsules include review scores that are no longer accurate. We also see that in most cases this additional text on assets is presented in English language only, isolating much of the Steam audience that doesn't speak English.



We understand that developers want to communicate with their players about the quality of their games, and Steam already has spaces on game store pages to present most of this information. Press review quotes, press review scores, and special awards each have dedicated spaces on Steam store pages where it can be presented consistently and where customers can expect to find that information. You can check out our Store Page Accolades documentation for details.

We want to make sure our guidelines are as clear as possible for what should and shouldn't be presented on graphical assets, so today we're clarifying some existing rules and adding some new rules that will go into effect Sept 1. The complete rules can be found on our official Graphical Asset Rules page.

We've also included a copy of the rules here for your convenience:

Store graphical assets are the banner images (called 'Capsules' in Steamworks) that represent your game throughout the store. You can find detailed specifications and templates in our Store Graphical Assets documentation.

1. Content on base graphical asset capsules on Steam is limited to game artwork, the game name, and any official subtitle. For clarity, this means:
   
   1. No review scores of any kind, including Steam reviews or external news sources
      
   2. No award names, symbols, or logos
      
   3. No discount marketing copy (eg. no "On Sale Now" or "Up to 90% off" text)
      
   4. No text or imagery promoting a different product. This includes no marketing of sequels or other titles in the same franchise.
      
   5. No other miscellaneous text.
2. We understand that partners are excited to talk about large updates and seasonal events, and customers are often excited to see these reflected in the game capsules. While this content is not allowed in base capsule assets (see rule #1 above), we do support this use case through Capsule Artwork Overrides with the following constraints:
   
   1. Must use Artwork Overrides - When including text on a graphical asset, this MUST be uploaded as an Artwork Override with a length limit of one month.
      
   2. Must localize any text - Any text included on a graphical asset MUST be localized into at least the same set of languages supported by the game.
      
   3. Only to describe new content - The only acceptable additional text on a game capsule is words describing a major update to the game content, a new seasonal event, battle pass, DLC, or similar new content for the game.

Library graphical assets are the set of images that represent your game within the Steam library. These are comprised of a vertical capsule, a hero image and a logo. You can find detailed specifications and templates in our Library Assets documentation. Each of these assets has slightly different content and uses:

1. Library Capsule - this image must include your game logo. It can also include your game's subtitle if appropriate. No other text should be present on this capsule.
   
2. Library Hero - this image should only contain artwork. There should be no words at all in this asset.
   
3. Library Logo - this image is only your game's logo on a transparent background. There should be no other words in this asset.

In addition to the above specific rules, all capsules on Steam must adhere to these basic rules:

1. Capsule images must contain a readable product logo/name and have accurate dimensions.
   
2. All capsule images (store and library) must have PG-13 appropriate artwork.

What is appropriate use of text on store capsules? Tastefully promoting your recent update or new content is okay on store capsules, as long as you use a Temporary Artwork Override to do so and localize the text into languages supported by your game. See rules above for details.



As a reminder, these new rules go into effect September 1, 2022 and we ask that all game developers review their graphical assets and make any changes to bring them in line with these new rules.

You can review your set of graphical assets by visiting 'edit store' for your game and click the 'graphical assets' tab. Note: check if you have any active Artwork Overrides, as you may need to update those as well.

Any game not adhering to these rules may have limits to visibility within the Steam store and will be ineligible for featuring in official Steam sales and events.