Valve said it is altering its Steam release requirements after seeing a sharp rise in the number of games submitted for store and page review in recent months. The company acknowledged that reviews are now taking as long as 12 business days, compared with the usual 3 to 5 days, and described itself as running a little behind.
The slowdown has weighed on independent developers, some of whom have reported waiting long enough that their games missed planned launch dates. According to Valve, much of the backlog comes from having to review the same games more than once, and the checklist changes are intended to reduce repeat reviews for basic functional problems.
Under the new rules, developers must run their games through Steam for at least five minutes before submitting them. Valve said some builds it reviews have never been launched through Steam, so a game that works when a developer starts its executable directly may still skip steps that affect how a user installs and plays it through the platform.
Valve is also requiring that achievements be ready at submission and that developers confirm any common redistributables Steam may need to install, such as DirectX or Visual C++. The company said additional improvements to the build review process are in the works.
The changes apply to developers releasing games on Steam, the dominant storefront for PC gaming in the US and other markets, where approval timing can determine whether a title arrives on its announced date. Valve's review queue covers both store pages and game builds.
Valve did not say when the new requirements take effect or how far the submission volume has risen beyond calling the increase significant. The company's post framed the checklist changes as a way to speed up reviews by cutting down on avoidable re-submissions.
More software news from TechManNews.
