Steam build reviews are taking up to 12 business days, so Valve is making developers play their own games through Steam first

Steam’s review line is backed up, and Valve has said so out loud. In a Steamworks post titled “Updates to the Pre-Release Review Process”, Valve told developers it has seen “a significant increase in submissions” for store page and build review in recent months. It normally aims to test a game build within 3 to 5 days, but it’s “running a little behind right now and taking up to 12 business days.” Valve says much of that delay comes from games failing review and having to be checked again.

That lines up with what developers had already been saying. The Verge reported that indie studios were missing planned launch dates because their games were stuck waiting on Steam’s review, and Valve’s post went up after that story ran.

What’s changing for developers

Valve’s fix is a longer release checklist, aimed at catching basic problems before a build ever reaches a reviewer.

Play it through Steam first. Developers now have to launch their game with Steam’s Play button and run it for at least five minutes before submitting. The playtime has to be from the past 7 days, or since the last build if that’s older. Valve admits that “sometimes we review builds that have not ever been played through Steam,” which means broken launch options or missing content can slip through.

Confirm the basics. Developers must say which common redistributables Steam should install, like DirectX or Visual C++, or confirm the game doesn’t need any. Steam will also flag incomplete achievements, such as missing names or icons.

Prove cloud saves work. If a store page lists Steam Cloud support, someone on the team now has to actually write a save to Steam Cloud, and Valve will flag cloud sync that’s still left in developer mode.

Label the screenshots. Store screenshots now have categories, so developers can show menus, concept art or cinematics as long as they’re labeled. At least five still have to be tagged as gameplay.

Valve says more improvements to build review are on the way.

PPR take: As a player, this matters more than it sounds. When a small studio misses its launch date, it’s often not because the game isn’t ready. Sometimes it’s just stuck in a queue, and that can mess up a whole marketing plan for a team that can’t afford to lose the momentum. Valve owning up to the backlog is a good start. The five-minute rule made me laugh a little, because it’s wild that games have been sent in without anyone ever launching them through Steam. But checks like this should mean fewer broken day-one launches, missing achievements and cloud saves that don’t sync, and those are exactly the things that drive players nuts. The screenshot labels are a quiet win for us too, since you’ll be able to tell actual gameplay from concept art on a store page. The real question is whether review times come back down to that 3 to 5 day target, and Valve hasn’t put a date on that yet.