Hide Steam Genres to Improve Recommendations

Steam’s discovery queue and store recommendations are heavily influenced by the genres of games you play. If you’re seeing too many games of a type you no longer enjoy, or if your account is cluttered with genres from shared family members, hiding specific genres can help refine your store experience. This guide walks you through the process of hiding genres on Steam, which directly impacts the recommendations and discovery queue you see.

What You’ll Need

• A Steam account with a web browser (this works on the Steam website, not the desktop client).
• Access to your account preferences (no special permissions required).

Step-by-Step

1. Open your Steam Preferences: Go to store.steampowered.com and log in. Click on your profile name in the top-right corner, then select Preferences from the dropdown menu.
2. Navigate to the ‘Genres’ section: On the Preferences page, scroll down until you see the Genres heading. This is a list of all game genres Steam uses for recommendations.
3. Uncheck the genres you want to hide: Each genre has a checkbox next to it. Uncheck the box for any genre you want to hide. For example, if you want to see fewer horror games, uncheck Horror.
4. Save your changes: Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save button. Steam will confirm that your preferences have been updated.
5. Clear your Steam cache (optional but recommended): To make sure the changes take effect immediately, go to Steam > Settings > Web Browser in the desktop client and click Clear Web Browser Cache and Clear All Browser Cookies. This forces the store to reload with your new preferences.
6. Test with a discovery queue: Go to the Steam store and click on Discovery Queue (usually under the ‘Your Store’ tab). The queue should now exclude the genres you unchecked. If you still see those genres, try a hard refresh of the page (Ctrl+F5 on Windows, Cmd+Shift+R on Mac).

Common Mistakes

• Not saving after unchecking: Forgetting to click the Save button is the most common error. Your changes won’t apply until you save.
• Using the desktop client instead of the website: The genre preferences are only accessible via the Steam website. The desktop client’s settings don’t have this option.
• Expecting instant effect on the home page: The Steam home page might still show games from hidden genres for a short time due to caching. The discovery queue and ‘Recommended for You’ sections update more quickly.
• Hiding too many genres: If you hide too many, Steam may have difficulty finding games you like, leading to a less varied store. Start with just the genres you really want to avoid.

Tips

• Use the ‘Ignore’ feature for specific games: Hiding a genre removes all games in that category. If you only dislike a few games, use the Not Interested button on the game’s store page instead. This is more precise and doesn’t affect other games in the genre.
• Revisit your preferences periodically: Your tastes change. Every few months, check your genre preferences to see if you want to re-enable a genre you previously hid.
• Combine with other preferences: The Preferences page also lets you hide games with certain tags (like ‘Early Access’ or ‘VR’). Use these together with genre hiding for a more tailored store.
• Use the ‘Exclude Games’ list: On the same Preferences page, you can add specific games to an ‘Exclude Games’ list. This is useful for hiding games you already own or have no interest in, without hiding the whole genre.

Troubleshooting

• Genres still appear after saving: First, clear your browser cache and cookies as described in Step 5. If that doesn’t work, log out of Steam and log back in. This forces a refresh of your session data.
• Changes don’t affect the Discovery Queue: The Discovery Queue may take a few hours to update. If it still shows hidden genres after a day, double-check that you saved the preferences correctly. Also, ensure you’re not looking at a queue that was generated before your changes.
• Can’t find the Preferences page: If you’re not seeing the ‘Preferences’ option in your profile dropdown, make sure you’re logged into the Steam store website, not the community page. The URL should be store.steampowered.com.
• Hidden genres still appear in search results: Hiding genres only affects recommendations and discovery, not search. If you search for ‘horror’, you’ll still see horror games. That’s expected behavior.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will hiding genres hide games I already own?

No. Hiding genres only affects the store recommendations and discovery queue. Games you own will still appear in your library, and you can still play them.

Does this affect the ‘New on Steam’ section?

Yes, the ‘New on Steam’ section is personalized based on your preferences, including genre settings. Hidden genres will be filtered out from that section as well.

Can I hide genres on the mobile app?

No, the mobile app doesn’t have a preferences page. You need to use a web browser to change these settings.

Will hiding a genre also hide games that have that genre as a secondary tag?

Yes, Steam filters out any game that has the hidden genre as one of its tags, even if it’s not the primary genre.

How long does it take for the changes to take effect?

Usually immediately after saving and clearing your cache. However, some sections of the store may take up to a few hours to fully update.

Can I undo this later?

Yes, simply go back to the same Preferences page and re-check the boxes for the genres you want to see again. Save your changes, and they’ll be restored.

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