Developers must now run their game through Steam for at least five minutes before submitting a build for review, Valve said in a Steamworks post on Nov. 3. Valve says reviews that normally take 3-5 days are now taking up to 12 business days.

What the release checklist adds

Valve says the changes are meant to help more developers pass build review the first time and cut re-reviews for basic functional issues. New items:

  • Playtime: launch the game with the green "Play" button in Steam and run it for at least 5 minutes. Any user's playtime counts, within the past 7 days or since the last build if that was uploaded longer ago.
  • Redistributables: specify which common ones Steam should install, such as DirectX, Visual C++, .NET or XNA, or say none are needed.
  • Achievements: checks flag missing names or icons and duplicate names.
  • Steam Cloud: if the game lists Cloud support, a partner-group member must write a save file to it.
  • Screenshots: new categories for menus, concept art and cinematics, with at least 5 marked as gameplay.
  • Submission reminders: prompts based on the store page, such as language support or test credentials for multiplayer.

Review times and AI disclosures

Valve says it aims to test every build within 3-5 days but is "running a little behind" and taking up to 12 business days. It says much of the delay comes from re-reviewing games.

Reviewers also compare a game's content with its content survey, which covers mature content and AI usage. Valve does not link the backlog to AI in its post.

Who is affected

The rules apply to developers submitting games and builds for release on Steam.

What this means for you

If you play on Steam, the change is on the developer side. Valve says reviews are running behind and gave no release-date guidance. Any effect on launch dates is our inference, not something Valve said.

Why it matters

The new items catch setup mistakes, such as a game never launched through Steam, before a reviewer does. Valve has not given a date for a return to 3-5 day reviews.

Related

For other Steam hardware news, see Lenovo's Legion Go S SteamOS handheld at Best Buy. For AI and games, see Claude Code now refuses to clone existing games. More is in Gaming.