Steam Review Delays
Valve acknowledged a significant increase in submissions for store and page review, noting that it is currently taking up to 12 business days for reviews instead of the typical three to five days.
Valve Updates Steam Submission Rules to Tackle Surge in Game Approvals
Valve admits that review timelines have extended significantly as developers flood the platform with new titles.
New Developer Checklist
Independent developers recently expressed frustrations over lengthy approval times causing some games to miss planned launch dates. Valve states that much of the backlog stems from having to re-review games, prompting updates to the release checklist designed to cut down on re-reviews for basic functional issues.
The changes include requiring developers to run their games through Steam for at least five minutes prior to submission. Valve notes that it frequently encounters builds that have never been tested through Steam, meaning developers often miss basic integration steps that impact installation and gameplay.
Additional requirements mandate that developers ensure achievements are fully configured and confirm any necessary common redistributables, such as DirectX or Visual C++, that Steam needs to install.
Future Improvements
Valve confirmed that further improvements to streamline the build review process are currently in development.
