Valve warns Steam game review is taking up to 12 business days

Valve has warned developers that getting a game approved for release on Steam is taking longer than usual. In a blog post published Tuesday night, the company confirmed the delays and gave tips to help the pre-release review finish faster. It also told developers about upcoming changes to the process.

In the post's Q&A, Valve says it aims to test every game build within 3-5 days. It says it is currently taking up to 12 business days. The company says much of the delay comes from having to re-review games, and that the changes it describes are meant to help games pass review the first time.

Valve testers check items such as whether a game can pause and whether listed features like local co-op work. The full process is not public. A game cannot be published until Valve approves these checks. Kotaku reports that this is causing some developers to miss their planned launch dates entirely.

Kotaku also reports that developers have waited as long as 2-3 weeks without hearing from Valve about the delays. Some games have been rejected for seemingly spurious reasons, and developers then wait upwards of another month to explain the issue or resubmit. One developer said Wheel Make It failed review because Valve could not work out how to activate the local co-op listed on its store page. The game has two players share a keyboard.

Valve does not directly attribute the delays to any development trend. It says it has seen a significant increase in submissions for store page and build review in recent months. Game Developer notes that the recent Steam NextFest doubled historical highs for submissions during the event. It also points to Itch.io data indicating that AI-driven games are flooding that platform.

Valve's post closes by advising developers to review their store page and build with the customer experience in mind, which it says should leave them well equipped for pre-release review.