Valve Refines Steam User Reviews: Unpaid Copies No Longer Count

Valve is making another change to the way it calculates user review scores on a game's store page. Now, players who receive games for free will no longer have their review counted towards the total user review score.

With the changes we are making now, the review score (shown at the top of store pages and in various places throughout the store such as search results) will no longer include reviews by users that received the game for free, such as via a gift, or during a free weekend. Reviews can still be written by customers that obtained the game in any of these ways, but the review will not count toward the overall review score.

The latest announcement is a follow-up to changes made back in September. Though the latest refinement will not be complete for a few more days, though it's already begun being implemented. Expect to see some games' review score change.

One additional note, this latest refinement only applies to games for sale. It will not affect free-to-play games. Makes sense doesn't it?