Valve is rolling out a new feature for Steam Early Access enthusiasts, making it easier to track the progress of games. They’re introducing an alert system to highlight when a game hasn’t been updated in over a year.
This change was initially spotted by SteamDB, revealing a notification system that appears at the top of the Early Access developer Q&A. It aims to inform players about the last time a game received any updates. Valve has also adjusted the Steamworks platform to highlight this development.
In their own words, Valve explained, “If it has been more than 12 months since the developers of a game have updated the game and posted an ‘update’ type event to tell players about it, Steam will add a note to the store page, just above the Developer Questionnaire letting players know that the game has not updated in a while.”
This notification is triggered under two main situations: when it’s been more than a year since a new build was assigned to the ‘default’ branch in Steamworks or if a developer hasn’t posted any ‘update’ events, whether that be a Major Update, Regular Update, or Patch Notes.
The Early Access platform has long had instances where developers have abandoned their projects, leaving eager players in the lurch. With this new notification system, Valve hopes to provide more transparency and help manage expectations for those exploring these in-progress titles.
