Valve to make developers play their own games on Steam before release — build review rules updated
Translated with AI from the Russian original.
It looks like moderators have grown tired of vibe coders' creations. With review submissions surging, workflows are being overhauled.
Valve recently announced changes to the pre-release game review process on Steam. Developers must now conduct an initial check themselves before submitting a build of their project.
The build being submitted must be launched via the Steam client and played for at least 5 minutes. Valve explained that sometimes builds are submitted that have never been launched via Steam at all:
“Even if the game runs reliably when the developer runs the exe directly, they could have missed basic steps that affect how the game installs and launches via Steam for players. The release checklist now asks for some play time in Steam before submitting for review—to help ensure that the launch options are configured properly.”
The Steam Cloud feature must also be tested: if cloud save support has been declared, the developer must now write a save file to Steam Cloud. This ensures that everything is configured correctly.
The Steam rule updates also affect store page design. It is now permitted to publish not only gameplay screenshots, but also concept art, cutscene stills, and menu screens (a category must be specified for them).
These rule changes, Valve explains, are due to the growing volume of submissions:
“We've seen a significant increase in store page and build review submissions over the past few months, and have been working to scale our review process to meet this demand […] These changes are intended to help more developers pass build review the first time, and reduce churn due to basic functional issues.”
The standard Steam build review turnaround is typically 3–5 days, but currently, due to heavy workload, Valve is “slightly behind schedule” and taking up to 12 business days.
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