Valve has updated the pre-release review process for games on Steam and extended the release checklist for developers.
New requirements include at least 5 minutes of playtime via Steam before submission, specifying required redistributables, achievement configuration checks, Steam Cloud save detection and 5 screenshots categorized as gameplay. Reviews currently take up to 12 business days (target: 3-5 days).
We’ve seen a significant increase in submissions for store page and build review in recent months, and have spent the last several weeks working to scale our process to match it. Though we still have a ways to go, we want to share the initial improvements that have shipped in the past weeks. The changes are designed to help more developers pass build review the first time, and cut down on re-reviews for basic functional issues.
Run your game through Steam for at least 5 minutes Believe it or not, sometimes we review builds that have not ever been played through Steam. The release checklist now requires some Steam playtime before submitting for review, which will help ensure that a game has configured launch options correctly and included the necessary content depots.
- Click the green “Play” button in Steam to launch and run your game for at least 5 minutes.
- Any playtime from any user is valid.
- The playtime must be within the past 7 days, or since your last build if it was uploaded longer than 7 days ago.
Confirm any required common redistributables Steam can automatically install many common redistributables which your app may use such as DirectX, Visual C++, .NET, XNA, and so forth. As part of the pre-release checklist, you’ll need to specify which ones Steam should install, or indicate that your game doesn’t need any of these.
Confirm your achievements are ready We added some checks to call out if we notice incomplete achievement configuration such as missing names, icons, duplicate names and so forth.
Steam Cloud save detection When Steam Cloud is indicated as a supported feature, we’ll now require that a save file be written to Steam Cloud by a member of your partner group. We’ll also call out if you still have developer mode enabled for your cloud sync, as you’ll need to set that public in order for players to be able to use the feature.
Screenshot categories: Now requires 5 categorized as gameplay Screenshots now have a few categories which you can choose from: you can provide images of your menu, concept art, or screenshots of in-game cinematics, as long as you categorize them correctly. These categories will appear as labels on the screenshots when shown on the store. You still cannot use screenshots to provide marketing copy.
Reminders at the time of build review submission We now surface some of the most common issues we see missed, along with asking for some information to help our reviewers from the start, e.g. included languages or credentials for multiplayer access.
How long does it take to review my game build? We aim to test every game build in a timely manner, typically within 3-5 days. However, we’re running a little behind right now and taking up to 12 business days. Much of that delay is due to having to re-review games.
Source: Steam