Steam has received more store and page review submissions in recent months, prompting Valve to change its pre-review process. In its Steamworks announcement, Valve says reviews can now take up to 12 business days. That is a maximum, not a guaranteed wait for every submission, and Valve says re-reviews account for much of the delay. The company says it has spent several weeks scaling the process and describes the initial changes as a way to help more developers pass build review on the first try and reduce repeat reviews for basic functional problems.
Steam’s usual review estimate is 3-5 business days. Developers behind Food Devils, Wheel Make It, and Cubic Earth told The Verge that their submissions had gone unanswered for as long as 20 days. The developer behind Little Crossroads gave another example, saying its playtest took two weeks to be approved in an October 27 post.
Took us 2 weeks for our playtest to be approved! Slowdowns are unfortunately normal right now. I think they should update their site to say 5-10 business days.
— Uncle Term ✨ "Little Crossroads" Dev (@TerminatusX) October 27, 2026
Valve’s checklist for developers
Valve asks developers to run their game through Steam for at least five minutes before submitting a build. The checklist also calls for identifying the common redistributables a game needs, including DirectX, Visual C++, .NET, and XNA. Developers should check that achievements are ready and Steam Cloud saves work if supported, then mark at least five supplied screenshots as gameplay.
Some builds reach reviewers without ever having been played through Steam. Launching an executable directly can miss installation or startup problems that affect someone installing and starting the game through the storefront, leaving issues for a later review to catch.
The checklist focuses on whether builds and supported Steam features work. It does not announce an AI-specific restriction or a test for whether a game resembles another title. At Steam Indie Connect, Valve representatives discussed low-quality demos surfacing during Steam Next Fest, and Tom Giardino said the company did not want to dictate developers’ tool choices.
Valve calls the checklist a starting point and says more changes to the review process are coming. Developers planning a Steam page or release will need to leave room for the longer possible wait rather than rely on the usual estimate.
Does a possible 12-business-day review window give developers enough room to plan a Steam launch? For updates on Valve’s review queue and developer checklist, follow us on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
