Valve Introduces Warning System for Early Access Games

Valve now has a system in place that will indicate whether an early access game has been abandoned for a long time.

First spotted by SteamDB, it seems that Valve has taken a step forward in preventing Steam users from buying games that have been abandoned by their creators. In the screenshot, a warning can be seen indicating the last time the game was updated.

A good example of this is Pirate Software’s Heartbound which now has a similar warning. However, it’s unclear what “update” Steam is looking for. It might be a software update, as Pirate Software provided a community update on February 2 using Steam’s News Hub. But the warning is still there indicating that the game was last updated over 13 months ago.

Games usually enter early access in hopes of generating enough funding to be able to finish the game in the future. These games are usually unfinished and offer a playable proof of concept for players to decide whether they want to invest in the game’s development.

However, it’s also a system that can be exploited. A person can put up a game on a storefront that looks finished enough and fool players into purchasing the game. Upon receiving enough money, the developer can just abandon the game and not put any effort into it. Steam’s recent warning system is a way to avoid this from happening.