Several indie developers say Steam’s approval process has become unusually slow, forcing some teams to delay launches they had planned weeks in advance. Valve typically says store reviews take three to five business days, but developers report waiting much longer for their games to clear the queue.

Studio Daimon submitted its early-access game Food Devils on October 12 and planned to release it on November 3. Instead, the studio says the game was still awaiting approval, and that a follow-up ticket marking the situation as urgent was ignored.

Publisher 2 Left Thumbs says Wheel Make It missed its planned launch by nearly two weeks because of the review delay. The team also said the game initially failed review because a single menu option was not accessible with a controller.

Other developers have shared similar experiences on social media, describing multi-week waits for build reviews and uncertainty about when their games will finally be allowed to launch.

Valve recommends submitting a store page at least seven business days before launch to allow time for changes. But the number of games on Steam appears to be rising quickly: October’s Steam Next Fest included 7,240 games, a 65.2% increase from June’s event.

Developers speculate that AI-generated “slop” games may be contributing to the backlog, though Valve has not confirmed the cause. The platform now requires developers to disclose generative AI use, and nearly half of games released since that policy began include an AI disclosure.

Itch.io is facing a similar surge in submissions. The platform says the number of game pages created per day has doubled in the past two months, and it recently deleted “a couple terabytes” of AI-generated content.

For small studios, a delayed approval can mean missed marketing plans, wasted launch-day momentum, and financial pressure. Valve has not publicly responded to the reports, leaving developers waiting for answers as their release dates slip.