In a recent shadow patch, Steam appears to have quietly removed players’ ability to showcase trophies on their profiles that they do not actually own, closing a loophole that had previously allowed users to impersonate professional players and Major winners.
Prior to this update, any Steam user was able to display trophies on their profile through the “Review Showcase” feature on the platform. By inserting a URL to any specific item in the review text, the trophy would appear on their profile even if they did not actually own it.
While this wasn’t necessarily an “exploit,” it enabled players to showcase coveted trophies in their Steam profile without owning them. The only way to differentiate between these “fake” trophies and the real ones was by checking where they were displayed, the “Item Showcase” or the “Review Showcase”.
After the update, the Review Showcase simply displays the item URL instead of the actual item.
Following the removal of this feature, some players took to social media forums to debate whether the change was intentional or simply a bug, as Valve has yet to release any official patch notes addressing it. However, considering the fact that Valve has recently been actively taking steps to combat scamming, this change being intentional wouldn’t be surprising.
In either case, most players seem to agree that this feature being removed is a good thing, as it prevents impersonators and scammers from being able to showcase others’ achievements on their own profiles.