Steam games will now need to fully disclose kernel-level anti-cheat on store pages

Valve announced a change for Steam today that will make things a lot clearer for everyone, as developers will now need to clearly list the kernel-level anti-cheat used on Steam store pages.

In the Steamworks Developer post Valve said: "We've heard from more and more developers recently that they're looking for the right way to share anti-cheat information about their game with players. At the same time, players have been requesting more transparency around the anti-cheat services used in games, as well as the existence of any additional software that will be installed within the game."

Developers with games already on Steam will also need to do this, as it's not just for new games coming up for release, and it is also part of the release process now too. So Valve will be doing checks on games to ensure the notices are there and correct.

However, it's only being forced for kernel-level anti-cheat. If it's only client-side or server-side, it's optional, but Valve say "we generally think that any game that makes use of anti-cheat technology would benefit from letting players know".

Valve's example pictured below:

Some games don't properly remove everything when you uninstall either, with Valve noting this happens with older games, so it's nice to also see this will be noted too.

This should make it a bit easier knowing what to avoid on Steam Deck / Desktop Linux now too, since kernel-level anti-cheat games are usually blocked by the developer from running with Proton.

Valve have done a few rather interesting Steam updates lately like dealing with publisher banner spam, implementing improvements for Native Linux games, actually noting clearly when you go to purchase a game it's just a license and removing the need for individual arbitration.