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

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.

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.

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.

Valve has rolled out a new Steam feature that warns you when a game in Early Access hasn't had an update in a while, but there are caveats.

Valve has quietly implmented a useful new Steam feature warning users - and potential purchasers - how long it's been

Steam now warns about Early Access games that haven't been updated in months, helping players identify unupdated games.

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.

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.