In news that shouldn’t even be news but most definitely is, Valve is under fire for breaking the very rules it set up. So, to paint the whole picture, last week, Valve officially dropped Deadlock—a game that’s been shadow-playtested since 2023.
As of now, players still need an invitation to play it, but for the first time, the game can now be found when searching for it on Stream, which is exactly where the rule-breaking comes into play.
So, essentially, all was right in the world until one developer took to X to call Valve out for rather blatantly breaking its own rules on what you can and cannot do with Steam store pages. As for the offence, it all comes down to Valve not uploading the required minimum of five screenshots, which means that the review process has been intentionally bypassed.
ATTENTION VALVE SOFTWARE. YOU ARE VIOLATING YOUR OWN RULES FOR THE DEADLOCK STORE PAGE. ATTENTION VALVE SOFTWARE. ATTENTION VALVE SOFTWARE. ATTENTION VALVE SOFTWARE. ATTENTION VALVE SOFTWARE. ATTENTION VALVE SOFTWARE. ATTENTION VALVE SOFTWARE. ATTENTION VALVE SOFTWARE. ATTENTION. pic.twitter.com/jb73cqYyG2
— Ancient Egg ○ Wishlist ‣ B.C. Piezophile (@3DGlyptics) August 24, 2024
And if you’re reading this while rolling your eyes, there is actually a lot of merit behind this complaint. The Streamworks documentation that all game developers who want to publish their game on Steam get states that all developers need to provide at least five screenshots of their product on the Steam store page.
As for Deadlock, well, the page for Deacklock does not offer any screenshots—not a single one. Now, the other argument you might be reaching for is that it’s Valve. They made the rules so they can break them, but that’s not quite the case.
A compelling argument can be made that Valve already established a precedent as a Steamworks Partner and is thus subject to the Steamworks rules. This precedent was set when, in March 2024, Valve added a winner of over 100 awards sticker to the header art of The Orange Box – another clear violation.
However, when called out about this, Valve employee Tom Giardino acknowledged the mistake, and Valve fixed it quickly, ensuring full compliance with the rules—which has now set the precedent that Valve is subject to the same rules as everyone else.
What can anyone do about this? Well, nothing. There’s nothing to do but chuckle at news that shouldn’t even be news but totally is. Happy Thursday morning, everyone.