Steam Screenshots: How Many, Which First, and How Bright
How many screenshots the best Steam pages use, which one to put first, and why dark screenshots cost you. Measured on every page StoreCheck has checked.
By StoreCheck TeamPublished November 6, 20263 min readLive data: 802 pages
- Top pages average 16.4 screenshots; the rest 11.5. Steam requires at least 5.
- 24% of pages have a near-black shot in their first five.
- The first five matter most: they're visible before anyone clicks an arrow.
- Lead with your clearest gameplay moment, not a menu, cutscene or concept art.
Contents
Screenshots are the part of your page players actually look at after the capsule. They decide whether the game looks like the thing the capsule promised. Here's what 802 measured pages show.
How many screenshots?
Steam requires at least five. The top 10% of pages by score average 16.4; everyone else averages 11.5. The average across all pages is 12. More shots give you room to show each part of the game: core loop, progression, variety, and a moment of spectacle.
Which screenshot goes first?
Steam shows the first screenshots in the media strip and on hover in many lists. The first one should answer three questions instantly: what genre is this, what do I do, and does it look good? That usually means a mid-action gameplay shot with your UI visible but not dominant.
Avoid opening with:
- A title screen, menu or logo
- A cutscene or pre-rendered art (Valve also expects screenshots to show the game)
- A dark scene where the action is hard to read
Brightness: the quiet problem
24% of the pages we've checked have a near-black screenshot in their first five, and 11% open with a dark first shot. Brightness of the first five, best quarter vs worst: 97 vs 53/255.
| First-five brightness | Pages | Avg page score |
|---|---|---|
| Very dark (under 30) | 40 | 64 |
| Dark (30–45) | 71 | 73 |
| Medium (45–70) | 190 | 77 |
| Bright (70–100) | 277 | 80 |
| Very bright (100+) | 224 | 79 |
If your game is dark by design, pick the moments with light sources, raise exposure slightly for the captures, or lead with daytime or interior scenes.
Free toolScreenshot CheckerDark screenshots in your first five, with a better order.→Common problems
| Problem | Share of pages |
|---|---|
| Darker than the games Steam shows next to you | 21% |
| Could use more screenshots | 14% |
| N of the first 5 screenshots is near-black | 14% |
| The first screenshot is dark | 11% |
| N of the first 5 screenshots are near-black | 11% |
A simple order that works
- Your best gameplay moment, mid-action, genre obvious
- The core loop from a different angle
- Progression: upgrades, base, map or skill tree
- Variety: a different biome, enemy or mode
- Spectacle: the moment people share
- And then more depth: menus, customisation, co-op, story
Want to test two orders with real players? Player Jury's screenshot test shows each order to different players and asks whether they'd wishlist the game.
Free toolPlayer Jury testsReal players vote on your capsule, genre clarity, description or screenshot order.→Get a free 0–100 score for your Steam page, measured the same way as the 802 pages behind this article, with the fixes ranked by impact.
Check my page freeLive benchmarks and real examples: see the data guide.
Questions
How many screenshots does Steam require?
At least 5. The best-scoring pages in our data average 16.4.
What size should Steam screenshots be?
1920 × 1080 is the standard; Steam accepts other 16:9 sizes. Use the same aspect ratio for all of them.
Can I use concept art as a Steam screenshot?
Valve expects screenshots to show the game. Concept art, pre-rendered cinematics and award images can get the page sent back in review.
- • Steamworks: screenshots
- • StoreCheck data: 802 Steam store pages, measured with methodology v1