Valve's recent Steam Next Fest was plagued by games using AI, with former developers like Chet Faliszek saying the storefront is "overwhelmed by slop" – a problem that persists after the event, as countless clones and vibe-coded titles pop up.
The company is well aware of the issue, however, having recently said it knows there are "low-quality games" running rampant – but it doesn't want to dictate the "tools" that devs "should or shouldn't use." So, what is its next move?
Well, it all starts with tightening the guidelines folks have to follow to get games on the platform, and that's precisely what Valve is now doing. A new update to the pre-release review process on Steam proves as much.
"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," it reads. "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."
Interestingly, they note the "significant increase in submissions" here – but they don't mention any AI. Instead, they crack down on the requirements for said submissions. First, devs will need to run their proposed game through Steam for at least five minutes. Then, they must confirm any common redistributables (think DirectX and the like).
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