Steamworks Documentation
Review Process

Overview

Your game's store presence and build will need to be reviewed by Valve's review team before you can release on Steam. You'll need to click "Mark as ready for review" to communicate to Valve that you have completed the necessary release checklist items and are ready for review.

Please see our Release Options documentation for more information how to release your product on Steam.

Review once; Update any time

Once your game has been reviewed and approved, there is no need to go through review again. You are free to update your game as much as you need to.

Reviewing Store Presence

Our review of your store presence typically takes 3-5 business days to complete, but you'll want to submit your page for review at least 7 business days before you want it live to account for potential changes you'll need to make. We'll send you any feedback if necessary, or if none is necessary, we'll mark your store page as "Ready for release".

Here's a list of things we check for when reviewing the store presence for your product:
  • Your store page should only contain features and content that will be available at launch
    You will need to remove screenshots, trailers, or features listed that contain content that are incomplete or planned to be implemented. If you include content that's planned to be implemented later in your description section, it will need to be clear that the feature is currently not released.
  • Your capsule images will need to include a readable product title or logo.
    You can learn more about our guidelines in the Graphical Assets - Overview documentation.
  • Your screenshots must only contain gameplay. This means avoid using concept art, pre-rendered cinematic stills, or images that contain awards, marketing copy, or written product descriptions.
  • The description will need to be detailed and coherent.
    It's important that customers know what to expect before they purchase your product. You should not include links to other websites from this section.

Reviewing Early Access Store Page

For titles that are releasing in Early Access, you will need to answer all the questions in the Early Access section. In this section, you want to give customers a clear expectation of what the current version of your game contains, and what features and content still need to be added before the game is considered complete. You can view the Early Access documentation for more information.

Reviewing Adult Content Store Page

For titles that have marked the "Adult Only Sexual Content" section in the Mature Content Survey, both the Store Page and Product Build must be completed and submitted for review before the Store Page will be reviewed and set to "Ready for release". Adult Content store pages and builds can take longer than the typical 3-5 business days to review.

Reviewing Product Build

Our review of your game or software build prior to release typically takes 3-5 business days to complete, but we ask that you plan for at least 7 business days to ensure that we are able to review and approve in time for release and to allow for time in case an issue should arise. We'll send you any feedback if necessary, or if none is necessary, we'll mark your product as "Ready for release".

Here's a list of things we check for when reviewing your product:
  • Your product will need to start up properly.
    This means that your product must successfully launch in all supported operating systems listed on the store page.
  • All supported features listed on the store page will need to be implemented in the current build.
    If you intend to add a feature in the future, you'll need to remove the selected feature in the Basic Info tab until it is implemented and released.
  • Your product must use Steam Wallet for any in-game transactions.
    This means that your product cannot link to other store pages that does not offer Steam Wallet.

You can continue to make updates and changes to your build after review and approval, but you should be submitting a near-final build for review.

Reviewing Trading Cards

Our review of your trading cards typically takes 3-5 business days. Any necessary feedback will be provided to you via the tool. Once all your trading card assets are uploaded, click the edit link beneath “Release State” to configure your card drop settings and mark your assets as ready for review. Once set as ready for review, your cards will automatically appear in our queue to review by a Valve designer.

After your assets are approved, you'll see the status update on your Steamworks home page. You’ll then be able to set the release state to “Released” and publish the items. You can check our Steam Trading Cards documentation for more information.