Bullshots are a thing. It’s when game screenshots are not representing actual, in-game footage, but it’s either touched up and edited, or using assets or a combination of assets that isn’t found anywhere in-game. As such, Valve is clamping down its rules so that any game’s Steam page would only be allowed to show actual in-game screenshots, representative of the game, and not bullshots or even artwork.
Interestingly, even Valve is at fault in this category, and pointed their mistakes on their Dota 2 Steam page for showing artwork and not real in-game screenshots as an example. They have recently updated the page to abide to the same rules they are enforcing.
Why must this be done? It’s to protect us customers, and gamers, from being mislead by false advertising. Many attributed this change to No Man’s Sky, where the screenshots used to sell the game is not representative of the real game. Sure, there’s an argument that can be made that it’s such a huge world that it’s nigh impossible to find the exact planet being shown in the screenshots, but with the amount of hours players have sunk in (and some with recorded footage via Let’s Plays or streams), the images are downright lying as most planets have the same pattern of randomness that it would be impossible that a planet shown in the screenshots could be found.
Though this shouldn’t be all blamed on Hello Games’ ambitious title alone. Cases like Aliens: Colonial Marines looking worse than the demo and early versions being shown, as well as countless other games that uses bullshots, share the blame as well.
So hopefully, less customers will be tricked by the promise of grandiose bullshots on the front of a game’s Steam page. If the game is honestly good, and presented well without going for bullshots, it should sell.