{
  "id": 18093995,
  "title": "Valve just changed its Steam release rules amid a flood of AI games",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/04/valve-just-changed-its-steam-release-rules-amid-a-flood-of-ai-games",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-11-04T08:28:09.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Engadget",
    "slug": "engadget",
    "url": "https://www.engadget.com/2306215/valve-changed-its-steam-release-rules-amid-a-flood-of-ai-games/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Valve has introduced new rules for Steam game releases amid a surge in AI-generated games. The company aims to reduce the backlog of approvals, with review times currently stretching up to 12 business days, compared to its target of 3-5 days. Valve's announcement follows reports of indie games missing launch dates by weeks due to the unexpected delays. The company requires developers to run their games for at least five minutes on Steam to ensure compatibility, review redistributables, verify achievements, configure Steam Cloud save paths, and categorize screenshots. This comes as the store has been inundated with AI-enhanced games with insufficient pre-release checks, a problem that spiked around September and October. The delays are negatively impacting developers, who report a decline in momentum and player interest.",
  "summary": "Valve is updating its game release rules to try to unclog a backlog of approvals due to a recent flood of new game titles, many created with AI.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Rock Paper Shotgun",
        "title": "\"Steam's review queue is clogged up by AI slop\": Salacious Fire Emblem-ish Food Devils gets a delay because its devs think Valve is inundated with genAI games",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/03/steams-review-queue-is-clogged-up-by-ai-slop-salacious-fire-emblem",
        "published": "2026-11-03T21:41:08.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "PC Gamer",
        "title": "Valve admits it's 'running behind' on approving Steam games because it has to keep re-reviewing them, which surely has nothing to do with AI",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/03/valve-admits-its-running-behind-on-approving-steam-games-because-it",
        "published": "2026-11-03T23:51:13.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}