// KOTAKU — GAMING
Devs Are Blaming A Flood Of AI Slop On Steam For Delaying Their Games
November is, to put it lightly, nuts for video games. World of Warcraft: Forever launches tomorrow. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will be out just a few hours after that. And a short two weeks after that, the juggernaut arrives: GTA 6. So as you might imagine, dozens of indie games are trying to get their releases out now, before these heavy hitters show up and suck all the air out of the room, monopolizing the time of content creators and players who might otherwise pay attention to smaller projects. But the folks behind a lot of those indie games are now worried they might be forced to launch right in the middle of that AAA maelstrom, thanks to what they believe to be a major bottleneck going on internally at Valve; one they think is caused by a flood of AI slop games.
Throughout October, multiple indies have posted on social media suggesting that their approvals process on Steam was taking longer than usual. Normally, Valve says it expects a 3-5 day waiting period when a developer submits a game for approval to appear on the Steam store. Valve then might get back to the developer with any issues it has, and it’s another few days to review again. Once Valve considers any such issues resolved, the game can then be published on the storefront. For all this, Valve specifically advises developers, “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.”
Except recently, seven business days hasn’t cut it. Throughout October, a number of indie developers have posted on social platforms sharing that their reviews are taking two or three weeks or more to complete for no discernible reason.
There’s Caravarn Carnage: Fruity Road, for instance, which finally made it through Steam approvals on November 1 after submitting on October 16:
Hi @Steamworks, my games build has been stuck in review since October 16, beyond the usual 3-5 business days. I've contacted support but haven't received an update on the build review.
Ashen Legacy submitted on October 15, and was finally approved on November 1, coming in hot ahead of a planned November 6 release date:
Oh my god! My first submission was rejected, and I’ve already had to wait over two weeks. The scariest thing right now isn’t the threat of AI-generated game clones—it’s the wait for Steam’s review process. It’s a race to see whose game gets approved first, and with my scheduled… pic.twitter.com/rgbgwK8PVE
— Ashen Legacy | Wishlist on Steam (@VerStudiovn) October 31, 2026
Lacey’s Flash Games was recently forced into a delay; it finally came out on Halloween, four days late:
And Wheel Make It was forced to launch three weeks late: