23 Daily — According to theverge.com, many indie game developers have recently posted on social media about unexpectedly long approval wait times for their game submissions on Steam, resulting in missed planned launch dates and disrupted release schedules. For instance, Studio Daimon, developer of the upcoming title Food Devils, submitted its build on October 12 and planned to launch the game in early access on November 3, but the game is still awaiting Steam’s approval. Game director Alfred Kamon stated that despite multiple tickets expressing the urgency, the team remains uncertain when Steam will grant final release approval.

Approval Delays Widely Impact Indie Developers’ Release Plans

Publisher 2 Left Thumbs also experienced nearly a two-week delay of their game Wheel Make It due to prolonged review waiting times. According to a Steam post by the studio, a failed review resulted from a single menu option not being controller-accessible, which delayed the entire launch process. Reports of extended review waits have become common within the indie game community.

Rising Game Volume Conflicts with Steam’s Review Timeline

Steam advises developers to submit store pages at least seven business days prior to planned release to allow for review, which typically takes 3-5 business days. However, October’s Steam Next Fest featured 7,240 games, representing a 65.2% increase over June’s event, dramatically increasing the number of submissions waiting for approval. Additionally, since 2024, Valve requires developers to disclose AI usage in games, with nearly 49.9% of new releases flagged for AI content, further complicating review procedures.

AI Content Suspected as Main Cause of Queue Backlog; Itch.io Also Struggles

Developers suspect the surge in games with AI-related content clogs Steam’s review queue. Alfred Kamon remarked, “We can only assume it’s because Steam’s review queue is clogged up by AI slop, but the whole process is now taking several weeks for some developers.” Meanwhile, indie platform Itch.io reports daily game page creations doubling over the last two months and recently deleted terabytes of AI-generated junk content, highlighting challenges faced by multiple platforms managing AI-intensive submissions.

Editor's take: Approval Delays Highlight Emerging Challenges in Digital Game Markets

As game volume surges and artificial intelligence becomes widely applied, digital game platforms face unprecedented pressure in managing review workflows, affecting developers’ release schedules and business plans. Entrepreneurs should note that while new technologies diversify products, platform review and quality control processes may become bottlenecks. To verify this trend’s pervasiveness, stakeholders can monitor official review times after submissions, check announcements or user reports concerning queue extensions, and compare AI disclosure rates with release speed across platforms to inform development and publishing strategies.