Valve increases Steam game review times up to 12 business days

Valve has officially confirmed that the review and approval times for publishing games on Steam have been increased to up to 12 business days. Independent developers are facing situations where the moderation of their projects now takes weeks instead of the usual few days.

• Game review times on Steam have increased to up to 12 business days.
• Developers attribute the delays to a massive influx of low-quality projects created using artificial intelligence.
• From January to mid-October 2026, more games were released on Steam than in the entire year of 2025, with about 4,000 games appearing in October alone.

Reasons for delays and Valve's stance

Indie developers have flooded social media with complaints about delayed releases. For example, Studio Daimon director Alfred Kamon stated that his game Food Devils failed to launch on November 3 despite being submitted for review back on October 12 due to a prolonged content discussion with support.

Valve representatives acknowledged the increased workload and stated they have involved a significant number of people to address the rise of low-quality AI games. Previously, the company stated it did not want to dictate what tools developers should use.

Recommendations for developers

Amid the moderation crisis, Valve recommends that studios submit their store pages for review at least 7 business days before their target release date. Furthermore, developers should run the game on Steam for at least 5 minutes and verify the correctness of achievements and cloud saves before submission.

The company also announced adjustments to its internal processes to cope with the heavy workload. With around 4,000 games released in October alone—nearly half of which disclosed the use of AI—moderation queues have grown significantly.

Impact on the gaming industry

The extended review times pose serious financial risks for small independent studios relying on timely sales to secure revenue before the end of the year. These delays disrupt marketing schedules and force creators to postpone their launch dates.

The situation surrounding Steam highlights the challenges digital marketplaces face due to the exponential growth of automated content. Platforms must balance developer support with strict quality control, leading to heavy moderator overload.