Independent developers say lengthy Steam review waits are pushing back planned releases, including Studio Daimon’s Food Devils. Valve says store reviews typically take three to five business days.
Several independent developers say extended Steam approval waits are disrupting planned releases, with Studio Daimon’s Food Devils among the games facing a delay. The team had scheduled the title’s early access launch for Tuesday, Nov. 3, after submitting its build for review on Oct. 12.
Game director Alfred Kamon said the game was still waiting for approval as its planned launch date arrived. Kamon also said the team had contacted Steam about the timing after the submission remained pending.
“Even now, we don’t know when Steam will give us the final OK to finally release our game. We sent another ticket last week saying that the situation was urgent and that we might miss our release date because of this, but it also got ignored.” — Alfred Kamon, game director of Food Devils
Other indie launches affected
Publisher 2 Left Thumbs described a similar problem in October involving Wheel Make It, a cooperative game developed by tlproductions. The publisher said the title missed its planned launch by nearly two weeks while its build went through Steam’s review process.
2 Left Thumbs said one review failed because a single menu option could not be accessed with a controller. The publisher later said the game had been delayed after Steam reviewers encountered difficulty reaching its local cooperative mode, even though the mode uses a shared keyboard, according to the publisher’s account.
- Food Devils: planned early access launch on Nov. 3 after a build submission on Oct. 12.
- Wheel Make It: launch delayed by nearly two weeks during build reviews.
- Steam guidance: store-page reviews typically take three to five business days.
Steam’s stated review timeline
Valve’s Steamworks developer guidance says a review of a game’s store presence typically takes three to five business days. Valve recommends submitting a store page at least seven business days before a planned publication date so developers have time to address changes requested during the process.
The recent complaints come as the number of games appearing in Steam events continues to rise. Steam Next Fest featured 7,240 games in October, according to How to Market a Game. That was a 65.2% increase from the festival held in June.
Developers have connected the longer waits to the growing volume of games using generative artificial intelligence, but that explanation remains their assumption rather than an explanation confirmed by Valve. A Reddit user cited by The Verge found that 49.9% of games released since Valve began asking developers to disclose AI use in 2024 included such a disclosure. Valve had not provided a response to requests for comment when The Verge published its report.
