Overview

Gameplainer's Steam RSS feed monitoring feature allows you to track official announcements, updates, and events from Steam games and applications directly in your Discord channel. Every time Steam publishes a new announcement, you'll receive an instant notification with the full content formatted for easy reading.

What Gets Monitored

Steam RSS feeds capture official communications including:

• Game Updates & Patch Notes - New features, bug fixes, and balance changes
• Events & Announcements - Sales, tournaments, seasonal events
• Community Updates - Developer blogs, behind-the-scenes content
• Steam Platform News - Hardware announcements, platform updates (when using Steam collection feeds)

How to Set Up Steam Feed Monitoring

Step 1: Get Your Steam RSS Feed URL

Every Steam game and application has its own RSS feed. The URL format is:

https://store.steampowered.com/feeds/news/app/[APP_ID]/?cc=US&l=english

For Individual Games:
1. Go to the Steam store page for your game
2. Find the App ID in the URL (e.g., store.steampowered.com/app/2070270/)
3. Create the RSS feed URL: https://store.steampowered.com/feeds/news/app/2070270/?cc=US&l=english

For Steam Collections (Platform News, Hardware, etc.):

https://store.steampowered.com/feeds/news/collection/steam


Step 2: Add the Feed to Gameplainer

1. Navigate to the Steam RSS feed section in Gameplainer
2. Click the + button to add a new feed
3. Paste your Steam RSS feed URL in the input field
4. Click Continue
5. The feed will be validated and added to your monitoring list

Step 3: Configure Discord Notifications

Once added, each new announcement from the RSS feed will automatically be posted to your connected Discord channel.

What You'll See in Discord

When a new Steam announcement is published, you'll receive a Discord message containing:

• Title - The announcement headline
• Source - Which feed it came from (e.g., "Events and Announcements for steam")
• Full Content - The complete announcement text, converted from HTML to readable markdown
• Formatted Elements - Headers, lists, and emphasis preserved from the original
• Timestamp - When the announcement was published

Example Discord Message

Gameplainer APP 00:35

Steam Hardware: Launch timing and other FAQs (Events and Announcements for steam)

We started the Steam Hardware Blog as a way to specifically address topics surrounding Steam 
Hardware, and wanted to start by tackling some of the most frequently asked questions we've 
received since announcing these three new products on November 12th:

• Steam Controller
• Steam Machine  
• Steam Frame

Before we dive into some of the hardware-specific questions we've seen, we want to get straight 
to the two we know everyone is wondering about the most: When will these be launching, and how 
much will they cost?

Content Processing

Gameplainer automatically processes Steam RSS content to ensure clean, readable Discord messages:

Converted Elements

• BBCode Headers → Markdown headers (#, ##, ###, ####)
• HTML Lists → Markdown bullet points
• Bold/Italic → Markdown emphasis
• Links → Clickable URLs

Removed Elements

• Embedded YouTube videos (links preserved when possible)
• Video players
• Images (to keep notifications text-focused)
• Flash/Object embeds

Managing Your Steam Feeds

Viewing Active Feeds

Your Steam RSS feed monitoring dashboard shows:
- Feed title/description
- Unread count (red badge showing new announcements)
- Checkbox to enable/disable monitoring

Pausing/Resuming a Feed

Simply uncheck a feed to pause monitoring. Re-check to resume. All announcements published while paused will not be retroactively sent.

Removing a Feed

To stop monitoring a feed completely, select it and delete it from your feed list.

Technical Details

Update Frequency

Steam RSS feeds are checked at regular intervals (typically every 15-30 minutes). New announcements appear in Discord within minutes of being published by Steam.

Duplicate Prevention

Each announcement is tracked by its unique GUID to ensure you never receive the same notification twice, even if the feed is temporarily disabled and re-enabled.

Multi-Language Support

Steam RSS feeds support language parameters. You can monitor the same game in multiple languages by adding separate feeds:

https://store.steampowered.com/feeds/news/app/2070270/?cc=US&l=english
https://store.steampowered.com/feeds/news/app/2070270/?cc=FR&l=french
https://store.steampowered.com/feeds/news/app/2070270/?cc=JP&l=japanese

Character Limits

If an announcement is extremely long, the content may be truncated to fit Discord's message length limits (2000 characters). In these cases, the most important content (title and opening paragraphs) will be prioritized.

Common Use Cases

• Game Developer Monitoring: Monitor your own game's announcements to verify they're publishing correctly and track how your community receives them.
• Competitor Analysis: Track competitor game announcements to stay informed about their update cadence, feature releases, and community engagement strategies.
• Platform Updates: Monitor Steam's official collection feeds to stay current on platform changes, new hardware, and policy updates.
• Multi-Game Studios: Add RSS feeds for all your games in one place to have a centralized announcement monitoring hub.

Troubleshooting

Feed Not Updating

Check the RSS URL - Ensure the URL is formatted correctly and accessible in a browser

Verify App ID - Confirm you're using the correct Steam App ID for your game(s)

Check Discord Connection - Ensure your Discord channel configuration is still active and properly configured

Missing Announcements

Feed Was Paused - Announcements published while a feed is disabled won't be retroactively sent

Rate Limits - In rare cases of very high announcement volume, there may be brief delays

Formatting Issues

Complex HTML - Some Steam announcements use custom HTML that may not convert perfectly to markdown. Gameplainer does its best to preserve readability while removing problematic elements.

Best Practices

✅ Use Descriptive Names - If monitoring multiple games, use clear naming conventions
✅ Test First - Add one feed and verify it works before adding many
✅ Monitor Strategically - Only add feeds for games/apps you actively need to track
✅ Check Periodically - Review your feed list quarterly to remove obsolete feeds
✅ Combine with Other Features - Use Steam RSS alongside Steam Reviews and Discord monitoring for complete coverage

Limitations

• Only monitors official Steam RSS feeds (custom RSS feeds are not supported)
• Does not capture Steam Workshop updates, user reviews, or community discussions
• Video and image content is removed from notifications (text only)
• Historical announcements before feed setup are not retrieved