New games on Valve's Steam platform are getting delayed due to an extended approval process, which Valve does not directly attribute to any kind of development trend.

There's no shortage of games coming to Steam on any given day, with the recent Steam NextFest doubling historical highs for game submission numbers during the event. But that flood of submissions has deleterious effects for Valve's approval process to get games onto the platform. Now Valve is warning developers it may take more time for it to approve their games for release.

In a blog post published Tuesday night, Valve confirmed the delays and outlined tips to help the pre-review process complete more quickly. It also informed developers of some upcoming changes to the process. On Steam, to get a game approved for release, testers from Valve have to verify certain things, like the game being able to pause, listed features like local co-op working, and similar tests, though the full process is not public information. Until Valve approves these things, the game cannot be published, which Kotaku reports is causing some developers to miss their planned launch dates entirely.

In a Q&A section on Valve's post, the first question deals directly with the timetables involved. Asking how long it takes to review a game build, Valve answers "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, which isn't great for you or for us.

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