Indie Horror Game Stuck in Steam Approval Limbo for Three Years Due to Source Engine Licensing Issues
- Sagar Mankar
- May 3
- 3 min read
A small indie studio has been waiting three years for Valve to approve their horror game for release on Steam, and the reason comes down to a licensing requirement tied to the game engine they chose.
The studio behind the game is MOONLIT JOURNEYS, a three-person team currently developing AMYGDALA: Prelude, a retro-style horror first-person shooter set in 1990s Australia.
The game has a demo available, a growing wishlist, and is roughly 80% complete. By all accounts, it is ready for early access. The only thing standing in the way is a signed commercial agreement from Valve, which the studio has been trying to obtain since 2023.
The issue stems from the fact that AMYGDALA: Prelude is built using Valve's own Source Engine. Unlike most games on Steam, which go through a standard review process that typically takes three to five business days, games built on Source require a separate commercial agreement with Valve before they can be sold. That detail alone would not be a dealbreaker, but the process of actually obtaining that agreement has turned into a years-long ordeal.
The studio's founder, going by the username Iwannaseetheend, took to the r/gamedev subreddit on April 30 to share the situation. According to the post, Steam support has been responsive enough to ask for information, but the follow-through has been painfully slow. Responses sometimes took six to twelve months to arrive. And when they did come, the pattern was almost always the same.
"Steam support will ask us for details, and when I provide these details, we're met with silence for another few months before they let us know that they've fallen behind and we have to provide the same details again," the developer wrote. "We've been stuck on this loop for the last few years and aren't making any progress."
Direct emails to Valve have also gone unanswered. The developer has followed every instruction given to them, filled out the required documents, and returned them promptly. Still, no formal contract has arrived.
The emotional toll is evident in how the founder describes the situation. "It's painful watching everyone else ship their games every day whilst ours is stuck accumulating wishlists indefinitely but no one is able to buy," they said. "I'm keen to start recouping my development costs, and it's been really hard on me and the team. Most of the other devs on the team have grown exhausted as we're beyond our original (and extended) shipping date for early access waiting for Valve, and we're yet to be allowed to receive a cent for our game."
As per the discussion on r/gamedev, other developers chimed in to say that this kind of delay is not entirely uncommon for Source Engine projects specifically. Several commenters pointed out that building on Source without a commercial agreement already in place was a risky decision, though that does little to help the team now. Some suggested persistently following up with Steam support to stay visible in the queue. Others went a step further and recommended emailing Valve president Gabe Newell directly, noting that his email address is publicly known and that he has occasionally responded to such messages in the past.
As of now, no resolution has been reached. The game remains in a holding pattern, its release date unknown, its team growing increasingly fatigued. AMYGDALA: Prelude has a free demo available on Steam if you want to try.
