Step 1: Sign the Digital Paperwork
To start your journey with Steam Direct, you’ll need to sign the digital paperwork. Make sure you have all the necessary information detailed in the following steps.
Step 2: Pay the App Deposit Fee
Next, you’ll need to pay the app deposit fee. This can be done using any supported Steam payment method. The fee is $100.00 for each product you wish to distribute on Steam. This fee is recoupable once your product has at least $1,000.00 Adjusted Gross Revenue for Steam Store and in-app purchases.
Step 3: Complete the Paperwork with Your Bank and Tax Information
You’ll need to provide your bank and tax information for identity verification. This is to ensure that Steam knows who they’re doing business with. The account holder name on your bank account must match the name of your legal identification.
Step 4: Access to Steamworks
Once the paperwork is complete, you’ll have access to Steamworks. Here, you can start preparing your title for release. This includes building your store page, uploading your builds, configuring any Steamworks features, and entering your desired pricing.
Step 5: Review Process
Before your store page or game build can go live, there is a brief review process. Steam will run your game, look at your store page, and check that it is configured correctly and running as expected. This process takes between 1-5 days.
Step 6: Timing Requirements
There are a couple of additional timing requirements before you can release your first few titles on Steam:
- A 30-day waiting period between when you paid the app fee and when you can release your game. This gives Steam time to review your information.
- You’ll need to prepare your store page and put up a publicly-visible ‘coming soon’ page for at least two weeks. This will help you start building your audience of interested customers that can wishlist your game or participate in discussions.
Step 7: Release
Now you’re all set to release. The release controls are now in your hands and you can update whenever you want.
Step 8: Rules and Guidelines
Steam has a few guidelines about the content that can be distributed via Steam. Please keep these guidelines in mind when choosing whether to proceed with distribution. You can find the detailed rules and guidelines on the Steam Direct page.
