Steam Introduces New Game Release Checklist as Reviews Take Up to 12 Days

Valve has introduced new requirements for developers submitting games to Steam, including mandatory launch tests, achievement checks, and screenshot verification. The changes come as an increase in game submissions pushes review times from the usual 3–5 days to potentially 12 days.

According to the Steamworks announcement, the updated checklist aims to catch common problems before developers submit their games for review.

Steam now requires developers to test games before submission

Developers must launch and run their games through Steam for at least five minutes before requesting a review. Valve says many developers previously submitted builds without testing them through Steam, leaving basic issues undetected.

The new checklist also requires developers to complete several additional checks:

• Common redistributables: Confirm all required redistributables and identify unnecessary ones.
• Steam achievements: Verify that achievements are ready before submission.
• Steam Cloud: Have a Steamworks partner group member write save files to Steam Cloud to confirm that the feature works.
• Screenshots: Submit at least five screenshots categorized as gameplay and correctly label images showing menus, concept art, or cinematics.

Valve has also introduced a list of common issues that developers should review before submitting their games.

Developers must confirm whether they have tested their game on another PC, whether players can access all game content, and whether the build includes every advertised language.

These requirements aim to reduce preventable review failures and help Steam reviewers identify problems earlier.

Steam game reviews could now take up to 12 days

Valve says the number of games submitted for review has increased significantly in recent months, creating a backlog.

Steam’s review process normally takes between 3 and 5 days. However, developers may now have to wait up to 12 days for their submissions to complete the review process.

Valve says it is working to expand its review capacity and plans additional improvements to make the process more efficient.

The longer review period means developers may need to submit their builds earlier to avoid delays ahead of planned release dates.

In other Steam news, Valve recently introduced achievement sets with new completion trophies, while community developers released free GitHub plugins that bring Xbox and PS5-style interfaces to Steam Deck.

Meanwhile, the Steam Hardware Survey for October 2026 revealed that the RTX 3060 and 16GB of RAM are back on top among participating Steam users.