Has nothing to do with Steam. Developers pay for a store front on steam for their product. There is never a guarentee that games will finish development on time or even at all. Nothing is promised, so steam has nothing to do with it, unless they break rules for steam.

Steam will not get involved with development or publishing timelines.

引用自 pckirk：

Has nothing to do with Steam. Developers pay for a store front on steam for their product. There is never a guarentee that games will finish development on time or even at all. Nothing is promised, so steam has nothing to do with it, unless they break rules for steam.

Steam will not get involved with development or publishing timelines.

That and sometimes ♥♥♥♥ just happens. We live in a world in which a tornado can knock power out to a city for a week. Or a hurricane basically levels a studio and sets work back months. Or you know, squirrels might just up and get into a substation and knock power out for the entire day.

This isn’t about Valve controlling development — it’s about transparency on the store.

When a developer sets a public release date, it becomes part of their marketing. Players see it, add the game to wishlists, and expect a release around that time.
If the developer never intended to meet that date, that’s misleading advertising — and Steam is responsible for how games are presented on its platform.

Nobody says Valve should interfere with development.
But Steam can enforce basic rules for honesty — for example, penalizing or hiding games that set false release dates just to farm wishlists.
That’s not censorship or interference, it’s maintaining trust between players and the platform.

引用自 pckirk：

Has nothing to do with Steam. Developers pay for a store front on steam for their product. There is never a guarentee that games will finish development on time or even at all. Nothing is promised, so steam has nothing to do with it, unless they break rules for steam.

Steam will not get involved with development or publishing timelines.

There's been times when a game been forced to be released on a said date and it wasn't ready or still had problems. Instead of waiting until things were sorted it was pushed out, then everyone went ballistic. I'd rather a game be late, than rushed out.

引用自 Piston Smashed™：

There's been times when a game been forced to be released on a said date and it wasn't ready or still had problems. Instead of waiting until things were sorted it was pushed out, then everyone went ballistic. I'd rather a game be late, than rushed out.

I believe it is attributed to Miyamoto, but one man said, "A game delayed is eventually good. A bad game is bad forever."

引用自 Piston Smashed™：

There's been times when a game been forced to be released on a said date and it wasn't ready or still had problems. Instead of waiting until things were sorted it was pushed out, then everyone went ballistic. I'd rather a game be late, than rushed out.

Then they simply shouldn’t set a specific release date in the first place.
If the game isn’t ready — just use “TBA” or “Coming Soon.”
The problem isn’t delays; the problem is announcing a fake release date just to get attention and then pretending it never happened.
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver — it’s that simple.

引用自 Kerrik：

引用自 Piston Smashed™：

There's been times when a game been forced to be released on a said date and it wasn't ready or still had problems. Instead of waiting until things were sorted it was pushed out, then everyone went ballistic. I'd rather a game be late, than rushed out.

Then they simply shouldn’t set a specific release date in the first place.
If the game isn’t ready — just use “TBA” or “Coming Soon.”
The problem isn’t delays; the problem is announcing a fake release date just to get attention and then pretending it never happened.
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver — it’s that simple.

How many times have you seen products recalled or cars etc with faults because something was wrong and was rushed out?

Life doesn't work to a timetable, nothing in life is that simple...

引用自 Piston Smashed™：

引用自 Kerrik：

Then they simply shouldn’t set a specific release date in the first place.
If the game isn’t ready — just use “TBA” or “Coming Soon.”
The problem isn’t delays; the problem is announcing a fake release date just to get attention and then pretending it never happened.
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver — it’s that simple.

How many times have you seen products recalled or cars etc with faults because something was wrong and was rushed out?

Life doesn't work to a timetable, nothing in life is that simple...

Sure, delays and problems happen — that’s normal.
But again, no one forces developers to announce an exact release date if they’re not sure.

If “life doesn’t work to a timetable,” then don’t pretend it does just to attract wishlists and hype.
Players get frustrated not because a game is delayed, but because developers promise something they clearly can’t deliver.
It’s about honesty, not perfection.

引用自 Kerrik：

引用自 Piston Smashed™：

There's been times when a game been forced to be released on a said date and it wasn't ready or still had problems. Instead of waiting until things were sorted it was pushed out, then everyone went ballistic. I'd rather a game be late, than rushed out.

Then they simply shouldn’t set a specific release date in the first place.
If the game isn’t ready — just use “TBA” or “Coming Soon.”
The problem isn’t delays; the problem is announcing a fake release date just to get attention and then pretending it never happened.
Don’t promise what you can’t deliver — it’s that simple.

Extremely unexpected things can, and do happen, even with given expected dates and no expectation of unforseen events happening.

There was a game that was actually released, it was great, out for a short time - but ultimately, one of the things that took it down quite quickly was one of the main programmers was killed in a vehicle accident, no one really wanted to continue after that. the game was free anyway.

That's just one example, there was also things like covid when a lot of people lost their jobs, or got 2 even 3 jobs and had to quit being a Dev to focus on things as it was sudden & unexpected, had nothing happened it would be released on-time.

There may also be when tested extensively before a launch, serious bugs not previously seen or exploits may come up, thus delays can happen. The owning company can also make more demands, decide to hold change the release date etc, and as an owned company they may have no choice.

Ultimately, there's no issue missing a planned release date. Customers often expect nothing but absolutes, in a world full of wildcards, unexpected events etc. Most that put a release date expect to release on it, unless something happens. Good numbers of Indie Devs say "TBA" or "it's ready when it's ready".

Patience is #1, don't be in a hurry to be an early adopter either, a gaming releasing does not mean it will continue development, remain operational, or be good. Sometimes, you wait until after launch to see how things go, to be the most informed consumer possible especially if you're uncertain about a lesser-known Dev.

How does a missed release date hurt you, in your own words?

引用自 Kerrik：

This isn’t about Valve controlling development — it’s about transparency on the store.

And wghere's the issue. The devs give as much information as they can responsibly give.

引用自 Kerrik：

When a developer sets a public release date, it becomes part of their marketing. Players see it, add the game to wishlists, and expect a release around that time.

And then ♥♥♥♥ happens.

引用自 Kerrik：

But Steam can enforce basic rules for honesty — for example, penalizing or hiding games that set false release dates just to farm wishlists.

DO you have any evidence devs are actually doing this?
I mean lets be real. The release date is probably the least of the things that gets a game on a wishlist.

People don;t wishlist a game because it's coming soon. They wishlist a game because they think the game looks fun and they'd like to buy it.

So many threads today about punishing game developers for not releasing their games "soon enough". Was there some YouTube video that prompted these?

Let's say I'm planning on doing something malicious with the projected release date of my game. What can I actually accomplish by setting the release date and then not making it in time? Close to nothing. I can make a few people say "oh, that's too bad" I guess?

i can't say that i have ever felt harmed in any way by a release date being moved

i get being hyped and all that

but i do not want any game removed from any list i made because it upsets you this much

and as others have asked

how would you know/prove they had no intention of releasing on the given date?

just chill, partner

Cyberpunk 2077, devs wanted to push back release date due to game not being ready.
They did this several times, due to the game not meeting their expectations.

Players demanded the game be released anyway.

Game released as a terrible buggy mess.

I would rather a game be pushed back several times and release in a good and stable state, than to be released as a buggy mess because it wasn't ready.

引用自 HikariLight：

Cyberpunk 2077, devs wanted to push back release date due to game not being ready.
They did this several times, due to the game not meeting their expectations.

Players demanded the game be released anyway.

Game released as a terrible buggy mess.

I would rather a game be pushed back several times and release in a good and stable state, than to be released as a buggy mess because it wasn't ready.

Soulframe Preludes 11 got delayed a few days. A tiny bit disappointing, but I'd rather have Preludes 10 for a few extra days than have a broken video game while they fix it.