Will your page pass Valve's review?
Valve publishes what it checks. This page holds 32 of those rules, each one quoted from the Steamworks page that states it. Paste a rejection email to find the rule it names, or work the checklist before you submit.
Got a rejection email? Find the rule it names
What you paste never leaves your browser. There is no upload, no account and no model call, and none of this text is put into our analytics.
Pre-submit checklist
Every item is a rule Valve states in its own partner documentation, quoted with the page it came from. Ticks are remembered in this browser only. There is no score and no verdict here: a full set of ticks means you have been through the published rules, which is not the same as an approval.
Capsules and library art
Open each capsule at the size Steam actually renders it, not at the size you uploaded, and read the title from arms length. If you have to lean in, the art is winning over the logotype: move the logotype off the busy part of the image, add contrast behind it, or simplify the art under it.
Check the pixel dimensions of every uploaded file against the spec before you submit, rather than after a reviewer bounces the page. Our capsule validator reads the files themselves and will tell you in seconds.
Strip the capsule back to art, the game name and the official subtitle. Anything that reads like a line of marketing belongs in the parts of the store page that were built for it, not on the image.
Take the score off the image and re-upload. Press review quotes and scores have their own space on the store page, so nothing is lost by moving them there.
Remove the award name, the badge and the laurel wreath from the capsule art and re-upload. Special awards have their own dedicated space on the store page.
Take the sale text off the base capsule. Steam draws the discount flag itself wherever your game is on sale, so putting it on the art adds nothing and costs you a review round.
Keep the capsule about this game only. A sequel teaser, a "from the makers of" line or a second game logo all have to come off, even when the other title is yours.
If you want an update or event flash on the capsule, upload it as an Artwork Override rather than editing the base capsule, and prepare the localized versions at the same time so the override does not bounce on the language requirement.
Judge the capsule as something that will appear unprompted in front of a shopper who did not search for your game. If it would not pass in that context, crop it, re-frame it or pick a different moment from the game.
Pull press quotes off the capsule art. They have a dedicated place on the store page, and on a capsule they compete with the one piece of text that has to survive being shrunk.
Treat the small capsule as a separate design rather than a shrunk header. Valve notes the art in it does not have to match your other capsules, so a logotype on a flat field is a legitimate answer here.
Review the library set separately from the store set. They are uploaded in a different place in Steamworks and it is easy to fix the store capsules and forget these.
Deliver the hero as artwork only and let the separate logo asset carry the title, which is what the layered hero and logo are for. Keep the important part of the image inside the centred safe area so it survives resizing.
Export the logo on real transparency, not on a flat colour that happens to match the hero, and drop any strapline that sits under the logotype in your marketing lockup.
Screenshots
Go through the screenshot list and pull anything that is not a frame of the running game. Valve points out that the things you are trying to show off, such as awards and edition descriptions, already have their own spaces on the store page.
Count what is actually uploaded, not what is in your folder, and shoot at 16:9 in the native resolution rather than upscaling. Our screenshot checker reads the files themselves.
Before you submit, open the screenshot tab and set the flag deliberately on the four tamest shots you have. This is a checkbox that defaults against you and costs you front page placement silently.
Trailer
Export to the stated ceiling rather than above it, and use one of the named containers. Valve notes that the most common cause of a failed trailer is an unusual resolution, so a standard frame size is the safest export.
Upload the trailer days before you need it, not on the morning of the release. If the queue has stalled, note that deleting and resubmitting sends the video to the back of it rather than to the front.
Description
Read the description as someone who has never heard of the game and ask what they would still not know. A placeholder paragraph, a feature list with no explanation, or a translated block that does not parse are all things a reviewer will send back.
Move every outbound link into the dedicated link fields in the Basic Info tab of the store page editor, and check your embedded images too. A URL burned into a banner image counts, and so does spelling one out in words.
Replace any drawn button with plain text asking for the wishlist. Steam already draws the real button on the page, and a drawn copy of it is the version a reviewer will send back.
Cut the cross-promotion block out of the description. If the other titles are yours, they belong in the DLC or More From sections, which put them on the page without breaking the rule.
Write the short description as one unbroken run of plain text, and keep dates and availability out of it so it does not go stale the week after launch. Our description checker grades the field in full.
Add up the weight of your inline GIFs before you upload them. A single looping clip can blow the whole budget, and compressing it is faster than discovering the limit during review week.
Tags
Run the Tag Wizard rather than typing five tags and stopping. Valve notes the order carries weight, that your top five will be used to describe the game, and that some store filters prioritise the first 15.
Mature content
If you ticked that box, plan on submitting the page and the build together and give the calendar more room than a standard page needs. Submitting the page on its own will simply sit there.
Page, build and timing
Walk the page as a promise list and cut anything you cannot ship on day one, including the roadmap screenshot and the feature checkbox you ticked optimistically. Anything you keep as a future plan has to read unmistakably as a future plan.
Open the Basic Info tab and untick every feature the current build does not actually do, including controller support and cloud saves you have not wired up. It is faster to add the tick back later than to lose a review round over it.
If the game sells anything inside itself, route it through Steam on the Steam build, and remove any in-game link that sends the player somewhere else to pay.
Count backwards from the date you want the page live and submit with the whole buffer in hand. A single bounce costs another round, so the buffer is what pays for the mistake you have not found yet.
Work backwards from the release date: two weeks of live Coming Soon page, and before that the review window. Approval alone does not make the page public, so remember the separate button after it comes back.
Checks that need your files
This page reads rules, not files. For the checks that need the asset itself:
- Capsule validator for capsule dimensions, format and file size.
- Screenshot checker for screenshot resolution and aspect ratio.
- Description checker for the short description field itself.
Page already approved and live? Passing review is the floor, not the bar. Run it through the analyzer.
What this list is
Every rule here was read off a Steamworks partner documentation page on 2026-09-19, and each one links to the page it came from. A rule we could not find stated on one of those pages is not in the list, even where it is widely repeated elsewhere.
It is not a verdict. Valve reviews a build and a content survey as well as a store page, reviewers apply judgement, and the documentation can change after the date above. Ticking every box means you have been through the published rules, and that is all it means.
Passing review is also a floor, not a goal. It says your page is allowed on the store, not that anyone will click it. For that, run the page through the store page analyzer above.
Steam store page review questions
How long does Valve take to review a Steam store page?
Valve writes that "Our review of your store presence typically takes 3-5 business days to complete, but 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." Pages that marked the Adult Only Sexual Content section of the Mature Content Survey can take longer than that. A bounce costs another round, so the seven-day figure is the one to plan against, not the three-to-five.
Why was my Steam store page rejected?
Valve publishes the list of things it checks. For store presence it is that the page only contains features and content available at launch, that capsule images include a readable product title or logo, that screenshots contain only gameplay, and that the description is detailed and coherent with no links out to other websites. Separately, the graphical asset rules ban review scores, award names or logos, discount marketing copy, promotion of a different product, and any other miscellaneous text on a base capsule. Paste the wording from your mail into the lookup on this page to see which rule it maps to.
What is not allowed on a Steam capsule image?
Valve limits base capsule content to "game artwork, the game name, and any official subtitle", and then lists what that rules out: no review scores of any kind, no award names, symbols or logos, no discount marketing copy, no text or imagery promoting a different product including sequels in the same franchise, and no other miscellaneous text. Text about a major update or a seasonal event is allowed, but only as an Artwork Override with a one-month limit and localized into at least the languages the game supports.
Can I use concept art or key art as a Steam screenshot?
No. Valve's review checklist states that screenshots "must only contain gameplay" and asks you to avoid concept art, pre-rendered cinematic stills, and images containing awards, marketing copy or written product descriptions. Valve's point is not that the material is bad but that the store page already has dedicated places for it, so it does not need to live in the screenshot strip.
Does Valve review my game again after the first approval?
No. Valve writes that "Once your game has been reviewed and approved, there is no need to go through review again. You are free to update your game as much as you need to." That is only the review gate, though. Once the page is live it is competing for clicks, and nothing about passing review says the page is persuasive.
How far ahead of release does a Coming Soon page have to be live?
Valve states that "For new products, you must have a Coming Soon page up for at least two weeks before releasing." Approval alone does not make the page public either: after the review comes back you still have to press the button that posts it as Coming Soon. Count both the review window and the two weeks backwards from your release date.
Does this page send my rejection email anywhere?
No. The lookup is a plain text match that runs inside the page you are reading, against the 32 rules in our table. Nothing you paste is uploaded, stored, or attached to any event we record. The checklist ticks are kept in this browser only, and every rule is quoted from a Steamworks partner documentation page read on 2026-09-19.