Steam’s Early Access program has been going for about a year and a half right now, and since then although a great many games has passed through it that otherwise would not have… it’s gotten a bit of a reputation for letting some developers get away with selling an unfinished game to customers and then never finishing the game. And that’s just the surface, the rabbit hole sometimes goes much deeper with some infamous games and even lead to them being removed from Steam entirely (*coughthewarzcough*).

Valve has always wanted to be hands-off with the entire thing, not wishing to interfere with the process but it seems that enough is enough. Valve are now setting in place some rules and guidelines for Early Access developers, and the rules at the very least are etched in stone.

First Valve defines what an Early Access game is by saying that it’s a chance to “invite customers to get involved with your game as you develop” and get feedback that will allow for the game to be developed to best fit with what the audience is looking for. But they also note that “When you launch a game in Steam Early Access, there is an expectation by customers that you will continue development to a point where you have what you consider a ‘finished’ game”.

There are three concrete rules that need to be adhered to now, that are as follows:

• Developers need to make it clear on any third-party sites they use to sell Steam keys that the game is not in a completed state. This means that they must include the Early Access branding and a link to Steam’s Early Access FAQ.
• Developers should avoid making promises about the future, such as release dates and additional content. They can talk about plans but try not to make it sound like they will definitely happen – “Customers should be buying your game based on its current state, not on promises of a future that may or may not be realized.”
• Steam Early Access titles should not be made available for purchase on Steam any later than it is made available elsewhere. The game should also be made available for a reasonable price.

There are also a set of guidelines, which are more like a checklist of mistakes past Early Access Developers have made in the past:

• Don’t launch in Early Access if you can’t afford to develop with very few or no sales.
• Make sure you set expectations properly everywhere you talk about your game.
• Don’t launch in Early Access without a playable game (tech demos don’t count as playable games)
• Don’t launch in Early Access if you are done with development.

Sometimes it takes things going wrong to finally set them right, and things must have gone wrong to make Valve go against their typical hands-off policy with regards to Steam. Here’s hoping that the new rules and guidelines will cut down on Early Access issues and those who deliberately exploit the system will now be dealt with by Valve for breaking rules that have finally been set.