Steam Quality of Life Feature Would Be Huge for Co-Op Gamers

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People are again asking Valve to add a way to easily find games with local multiplayer on Steam. Some users feel this feature is long overdue. Steam currently has limited options for finding these games, but a dedicated filter would be a big help for players who enjoy co-op, though it would be a complex addition to the platform.

Steam lets users sort their games by categories like single-player, multiplayer, and co-op, but the co-op section combines both online and local games. This means players often have to check each game’s details on the store page to see if it supports split-screen or couch co-op. While Steam uses tags to help with other features like dynamic libraries, this system isn’t perfect. Many tags are added by users, so they aren’t always accurate.

Steam Users Have Been Asking for a Local Multiplayer Game Filter for 10 Years

Steam players have been requesting a way to filter games by local multiplayer support for years. These requests date back to 2016, even before Steam had tag-based filtering. People are still asking for this feature, with new suggestions appearing almost daily. A common point among these requests is that Steam should use official game labels, rather than relying on information submitted by users, to make sure the filtering is accurate and reliable.

Where Steam’s Hypothetical Local Co-Op Game Filter Could Go

Dominik Bošnjak / Game Rant | Source image: Valve

Many Steam users are requesting a way to easily find games with local multiplayer. They suggest adding a “Local Multiplayer” filter within the Advanced Filtering options, similar to how the “Cooperative” filter already works. This new filter would be a subcategory of “Cooperative” and would quickly show players which games they already own that support playing together on the same screen.

What Steam Offers for Co-Op Filtering Right Now

Since 2019, Valve has provided a basic way to find games with local multiplayer. It started with a filter in the Steam beta, but at first, it only worked when using Big Picture Mode. Later that year, they improved the filtering options in the beta version, making it possible to find these games outside of Big Picture Mode. Eventually, Steam store tags were added to help users specifically find co-op games and other types of local multiplayer experiences, like party games.

Why Valve Has So Far Relied on User-Submitted Tags for Local Multiplayer Game Filtering

As a gamer, I’ve been wondering why Steam doesn’t have a good filter to easily find local multiplayer games. Apparently, it’s a huge task! They’d have to check every multiplayer game on the platform to make sure it actually supports local co-op. They already have a tagging system where users can label games, and it seems like Valve figures it’s easier to live with a few inaccurate tags than spend a ton of time and money making a perfect filter. Plus, according to some research from early 2025, local co-op players are still a smaller group compared to the overall Steam community, so it’s probably not a top priority for them.

Next-Gen Steam Machine Is a Ray of Hope for an Official Local Multiplayer Library Filter

Despite current limitations, things are likely to evolve soon. Valve’s new Steam Machine is their biggest effort in over ten years to make gaming PCs a comfortable fit for living rooms. If it does well, Valve may start focusing more on players who will likely connect it to their TVs instead of computer monitors. This could make a feature for local multiplayer games much more useful, as playing together on a couch is a long-standing tradition in console gaming. The next version of the Steam Machine is planned for release in early 2026, and we should have more details about when it will be available in the coming weeks.

Sources: Cynicle / Steam, Tree_Dude / Reddit, Steam

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2025-12-27 08:04