It’s still not exactly clear what updates are substantial enough to reset the counter and how long it takes between updates for it to appear. Open-world survival zombie sim Project Zomboid has been in Early Access on Steam for over a decade and doesn’t show the new warning because it still receives regular updates. Its last one was in January.

The Steam notice can tell you if a game that still needs work hasn’t been updated in months or even years.

Valve just implemented a welcome warning message that proves the company continues to put its Steam customers first.

It's not a universally applied system yet, but Steam will now tell players if an Early Access game hasn't been updated in over a year.

Steam has added a new warning to the Steam pages of early-access games that have not been updated in a long time.

It's got its ups and downs, but I rather like Steam early access. Being able to get in on the ground floor of something, watch it develop, and support developers whose ambitions might exceed their initial budgets is a neat thing.

Steam now shows when Early Access games were last updated. The update appears if a game goes 12 months without an update. This feature helps you avoid wasting money on dead games. Early access games are a great way to test titles in development,

Valve now warns players about inactive games in Early Access to prevent purchasing abandoned projects. Games with over a year of inactivity receive a warning, with 20+ months labeled as high risk. Developers must update store pages regularly to avoid warnings and mislead players.

Steam has rolled out a subtle change to the store pages of early access games, seemingly in an attempt to warn players about purchasing an in-development title that might have been abandoned by its developers.