In context: These days, almost anyone can get an AI chatbot to code a playable game in a few hours. The result is that social media is packed with people showing off their creations, many of which are being submitted to Steam for approval. Developers say that the growing line is now long enough to push genuine indie games past their own launch dates.
TwoMenGames is one of the studios caught up in this situation. The small team was supposed to release its first game, Amazing Slot Survivor, today. But the slot machine-themed roguelike never received Valve's approval in time. Instead, the studio posted that Steam's review was simply taking longer than expected, so it removed the release date and brought back the game's demo for now.
Rami Ismail, who co-created the indie hit Nuclear Throne, is stuck in the same line. His new turn-based train defense game, Australia Did It, was due on November 10. Yet its publisher, Mystic Forge, says the game has now spent weeks waiting on Valve's build review. So far, nobody can say when that will end.
Ismail gave Eurogamer a clearer timeline. The game entered the queue on October 20 and failed on November 5 over a minor controller input bug. His team patched it the same day. Since then, Valve hasn't sent a meaningful reply, even after several follow-ups.
Weirdly, waits like this used to be a console problem. Ismail says Steam had always been much quicker. Back then, submitting a game 10 to 14 days before launch was usually enough to fail Valve's review twice and still ship on time.
For its part, Valve admitted in a Steamworks post earlier this month that reviews were taking up to 12 business days, well past its usual three to five. It pinned much of that on a jump in submissions and on re-reviewing builds that fail basic checks. So now developers must play their game through Steam for at least five minutes before submitting.
The post doesn't blame AI, though. Valve also recently made clear it won't ban AI-made games from Steam. Ismail thinks that hands-off stance is backfiring. If bad actors can submit several cloned games a day, he argues, Valve will eventually need fees, restrictions or extra hoops that hurt genuine developers.
Valve says more changes to its review process are on the way. In the meantime, anyone planning a Steam launch should probably ignore the seven-business-day buffer Valve's own documentation still recommends and submit much earlier.