Steam Introduces Warnings for Early Access Games Lacking Updates for a Year

Valve has introduced a helpful new feature for those browsing Steam’s Early Access games. Now, gamers will be informed if a title has gone more than a year without an update.

This update was first noticed by SteamDB. The notification shows up as a warning message at the top of the Early Access developer Q&A section, letting potential players know when the game last received a fresh coat of digital paint.

Valve has also made this change clear by updating Steamworks with all the details. According to Valve, “If it’s been over a year since a game received an update and the developers haven’t posted any ‘update’ events to inform players, Steam will place a note on the store page. This note will be prominently displayed just above the Developer Questionnaire, alerting players that the game hasn’t been updated recently.”

The notice will be triggered under either of these two conditions: If more than 12 months have passed since a build was added to the game’s ‘default’ branch in Steamworks, or if more than 12 months have passed since the developer last communicated an ‘update’ event to the community. This includes events like a Major Update, a Regular Update, or simple Patch Notes.

Since its inception, Early Access has been home to many titles that end up neglected by their developers. This latest move by Valve aims to give players more transparency, so they know exactly what they’re getting into before investing their time or money.