How to Publish your Game on Steam (and Why You Should)

If you're a game developer, you have many options when it comes to publishing your games. In the past, we've talked about itch.io, Poki, CrazyGames, and more. Today, we'll talk about a big one: how to publish your game on Steam.

Steam is possibly the largest online storefront for PC games. So if you're a developer making a game that is compatible with PC platforms (including Linux, or even the Steam Deck) , you should definitely consider publishing on Steam.

About Steam (Why You Should Publish on There)

Valve launched the Steam service for the purchase of digital games in 2003, and added the possibility of buying third-party games in 2005. Since then, Steam has incorporated over 30,000 games. 50% to 70% of the world's PC game downloads take place on Steam. It has over 121 million visits and supports 29 languages (and counting).

So when it comes to the PC market, Steam is a very strong place to consider.

How to Publish your Game on Steam - Part 1: Steam

So, what do you need to publish your game on Steam? On the Steam side, things are not that complicated. It used to be much more difficult to publish your game on Steam, but thanks to the rise of competitors such as itch.io and the Epic Games Launcher, Steam has changed its approach to publishing dramatically.

You can also publish your game on itch.io, Newgrounds, Poki, Liluo and Crazygames. You can see how to publish in all of these storefronts by checking out our dedicated page on publishing.

Cost

As long as your game complies with the Steam Terms of Service, you will only need to create an account and pay a one-time fee of US$100 to publish your game on Steam. They will, however, give you the money back if your game makes $1,000 in gross revenue from sales on the Steam store.

Commission

There is also a 30% commission on every sale made on Steam, which means you'll make 70% of every sale. For example, if your game is sold for $10, you'll make $7 and Steam will make $3.

There are also a whole bunch of best practices when it comes to your store listing, but for that, you best watch the video above.

Overall, the process is very simple now when it comes to having a Steam developer account and selling your game on there. But what about making the right package to upload?

How to Publish Your Game on Steam - Part 2: Your Engine

How to package your game for Steam will depend a lot on which engine you use. Every engine has a different way of accomplishing this. Different engines can also provide builds for different operating systems.

In the case of GDevelop, packaging your game for Steam is actually very easy. In fact, even with a free GDevelop account, you can perform a cloud build with a single click!

You can even make games on the go! GDevelop has Android and iOS apps for iPhone and iPad. So you never have to stop making your dream game a reality.

We have a handy guide for this process on the GDevelop Wiki. You can even create multiple builds at the same time. You can create packages for Windows, Linux, and Mac, and upload those versions to your game's Steam page.

And that's it! You don't need to code differently for different platforms, and you don't need to pay GDevelop to publish on extra platforms, either.

So if you want to make a game only once, without writing a single line of code (though you can add JavaScript if you want), make your game with GDevelop and publish it on Steam with just one click!