Frequently asked, properly answered

A one-time $100 USD Steam Direct fee per app, paid in Steamworks during onboarding. It is recouped: once your game earns $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue, the $100 is credited back to you.

Beyond that, Steam takes 30% of revenue (25% past $10M lifetime, 20% past $50M). There are no listing or update fees.

Monthly, roughly 30 days after the end of each month, by bank transfer to the account you verified during onboarding. Steam handles consumer VAT/sales tax on sales; what you receive is your revenue share, which you then declare as income in your own country.

Valve is a US company, so every partner completes a US tax interview. Non-US individuals and companies file a W-8BEN (or W-8BEN-E) through the interview, which usually reduces US withholding to 0% if your country has a tax treaty with the US (Ireland, Croatia and most of the EU do). You'll need your local tax identification number. It looks scary; it's a 10-minute form.

Yes. You can request batches of keys in Steamworks at no cost, for press, creators, giveaways or selling in other stores. Valve reviews large requests and expects you not to undercut Steam prices significantly when selling keys elsewhere. Key sales pay you 100% (Valve takes no cut on keys), which is why bundles use them.

Two separate reviews. Your store page is reviewed before it can go public as Coming Soon: typically 3 to 5 business days. Your build is reviewed before you can release: Valve runs the game to check it launches and matches the store page, also days, not hours. First-time partners can be slower. Plan both reviews weeks before your date, never the same week.

Valve enforces a minimum Coming Soon period (currently around two weeks) between page approval and release. Treat that as a floor, not a plan: wishlists are your launch fuel and most successful indies run their page for 3 to 6 months minimum.

Yes, freely while in Coming Soon, via Steamworks. Moving it earlier than an announced date close to launch needs Valve's help. The release date on the page is a player promise, so pick "Coming soon" or a quarter until you're confident.

A demo is its own app with its own App ID, created free from your main app's Steamworks page (Tools → create demo). It gets its own build upload and appears as a Download Demo button on your main page. Demo players' wishlists go to your main game, which is the whole point.

A week-long Valve event held several times a year where games with demos get massive storefront visibility. Each game may participate in exactly one Next Fest ever, before release. It routinely multiplies wishlist counts, so time it 1 to 4 months before launch when your demo is genuinely good, and don't burn it early on a rough build.

Steam Playtest is a free request-access testing system attached to your page ("Request Access" button). It is gated, audience-limited and great for feedback. A demo is open to everyone and is a marketing asset. Use Playtest early, demo later.

Usually zero code. Steam Auto-Cloud is configured in Steamworks (Application → Steam Cloud): you set a quota, tell Steam where your game saves (e.g. WinAppDataLocalLow + MyStudio/MyGame, pattern *.sav), publish, done. Steam syncs those files around play sessions. For saves that work across Windows, Mac and Deck, use one root plus Root Overrides, not a separate root per OS. Only games with unusual save systems need the programmatic Cloud API. Full walkthrough: Steam Cloud guide.

Achievements: strongly recommended at launch, they're cheap to add and players check for them. Make them in Steamworks' achievements editor with 256×256 icons, and keep a name in every language you ship. Trading cards: nice-to-have, and they won't drop until your game passes Valve's sales threshold anyway. Workshop: post-launch feature unless modding is your core pitch. Don't delay a launch for any of these.

Sets are a new (beta) way to group achievements, track completion per group, and retire old ones without taking progress from players. You don't need them: every game has a base game set and all achievements go there by default. They're useful for DLC, since a DLC set only counts for owners, and for seasonal content you'll later archive. They need no code changes. When you add new content, make a new set for it rather than adding to one players have already completed. See the achievements guide.

Valve runs one compatibility review that rates your game separately for Steam Deck, Steam Machine and other SteamOS devices: Verified, Playable, Unsupported or Unknown. A Verified Deck game is automatically Verified on Steam Machine. The rating never blocks your release, it only changes how the game is presented.

Valve queues popular titles itself, and many partners can also request a review (including before launch) from the Steam Hardware Compatibility Review link on the app landing page, once the game has passed its normal build review. Results arrive in about a week and auto-publish after roughly another week unless you act.

To aim for Verified: full controller support in the default config, glyphs that match the active controller, the on-screen keyboard for any text input, no launcher that needs a mouse, no "unsupported hardware" warnings, 30fps by default (800p on Deck, 1080p on Machine), and UI text at least 9px tall at 1280×800 (12px recommended). A Linux build isn't required since Proton runs most Windows builds, but test through Proton yourself.

Players wishlist your game and get notified by Steam when it launches and when it is discounted.

Wishlist count drives the Popular Upcoming list near launch, and wishlist velocity influences how much algorithmic visibility Steam gives you. Wishlists convert to sales over years, not just week one, and every sale event reactivates them.

Before you can submit your store page or build for review, you complete a three-part content survey. General content generates your regional age ratings. Mature content controls age gates and who sees the page, and you must disclose everything in your build even if players can't reach it. Generative AI asks whether AI made any content players actually see or hear: art, audio, text, localization. Using AI coding or productivity tools doesn't count; AI-generated art players see in the game (including achievement icons) does, and AI store capsules are safest to disclose too. Check your own game with the AI disclosure checker. Content generated live while the game runs also needs a description of your guardrails.

Valve checks your answers against the build and store page. Some answers are locked after approval and need Steam Support to change, so answer accurately the first time.

Players can self-refund within 14 days of purchase with under 2 hours played. Refunds are deducted from your revenue. Typical refund rates are 5 to 12%; very short games and tech-issue launches run higher. You see the rate in your sales reports.

Curators are Steam users who publish recommendation lists. Through Curator Connect in Steamworks you can send free review copies directly to curators with relevant audiences. Quality varies wildly; a handful of genuine genre curators are worth more than a hundred random ones. Ignore curators who email demanding keys, that's a key-reselling scam.

Each Pro key works on a limited number of devices at once (normally 3). If you hit the limit: open the license page on a device you no longer use and press Deactivate, which frees that slot instantly. Replaced a machine and can't deactivate from it? Reply to your purchase receipt and the activation will be reset for you, usually the same day.

No. It is a one-time purchase. The license page shows "Expires: never". One license covers all your games and projects.