Valve says it is behind on reviewing games submitted to Steam, with wait times now reaching 12 business days. The company’s usual target is three to five business days, according to a new Steamworks update. Valve attributed much of the delay to having to review games more than once.
The backlog has prompted complaints from indie developers whose finished games have remained in review for as long as 20 days. Developers behind Food Devils, Wheel Make It and Cubic Earth have publicly described waiting for responses, despite Steam’s stated review window.
The developer of Cubic Earth, structmira, told PC Gamer that the team had been unable to contact Valve and could only wait. The game’s trailer had received more than 60,000 YouTube views, and it had accumulated over 6,000 wishlists, the developer said. Meanwhile, complaints were appearing on the game’s Steam Community page, and the team had lost momentum.
Valve’s update introduces checklists intended to help developers submit builds that pass review the first time. One key instruction is to run a game through Steam for at least five minutes before submission. Valve said it sometimes reviews builds that have not been tested through Steam, meaning developers may miss problems that affect players installing and launching a game through the platform.
The checklist also asks developers to verify which common redistributables their games need, check that cloud saves and achievements work, and include at least five gameplay screenshots on their store pages.
Valve did not explain why the review backlog has emerged recently. The source article raises the increase in AI-generated games on Steam as a possible factor, but Valve did not identify AI as a cause of the delays. The company said further changes to the build review process are coming and described the checklist as a starting point.
Sources: PC Gamer.