After years of complaints, Valve finally fixes Steam's worst feature

Valve is one of the biggest videogame companies in the world, so it tracks that it would be at the forefront of technology, right? Think of how it has innovated in the past, revolutionising VR with the Index, creating a new handheld gaming boom with the Steam Deck, and of course changing the way we play games by introducing its digital storefront, Steam. However, it's not been perfect. For time immemorial, players have complained about a few of Steam's features. The Steam Chat app barely works, for example. The trailer player, too, is barely functional, especially when you compare it to other video players. Thankfully, the latter issue has been fixed in a recent update.

Valve announced the update late last night, and it seems to fix the majority of problems with Steam's native trailer player. You'll notice the new interface immediately, but more impressive is the fact that the UI will now automatically detect what device you're watching on and adapt accordingly.

Whether you're checking out one of the best Steam Deck games or trying to find out whether the latest indie hit is for you, it's so much easier now that the player has faster scrubbing, seeking, and a smoother transition to full screen.

While not immediately obvious to everyone, Valve also says that the new trailer player will use your bandwidth more smartly, dynamically switching between 360p, 480p, 720p, and 1080p to best suit your internet speed.

The update hasn't been easy, though. Valve says it re-encoded around 400,000 video files that appear on the storefront in the process. However, it still can't find the original backup of the Portal trailer, so that still looks pretty rubbish.

Why not have a look at the trailers for some upcoming PC games on the swish new player? Or, if you want to make sure they look their best, our guide to the best gaming monitor in 2025 will keep things looking fresh.

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