Steamworks Documentation
Publishers
The Steam PC Café Program provides a secure and efficient way for third party organizations to run Steam in public venues around the world. We’d like to invite you to offer your title(s) to the licensees of this program.
In addition to opening the ability to more game sales, offering access to your games through commercial sites like Cafés can be a great way to expand the visibility of your games, drive up player numbers, and build word of mouth on your titles.
Cafés and public gaming spaces are inherently populated with core consumers and influencers. They provide an opportunity for users to see and play games they may not otherwise get a chance to play. This is especially true in territories such as Korea, Taiwan, SE Asia, Turkey, China and in new markets like LATAM and India, where playing games is primarily done in public spaces such as Cafés.
Commercial sites can be any location that provides access to the Internet, which includes but is not limited to Cybercafés, PC Bangs, retail shops, coffee shops, schools, libraries, hospitals, theaters, airplanes, buses, trains, subways, etc. You can find additional information about licensee requirements here.
The customer facing website and information can be found here.
Commercial License Creation
You can create your own commercial license package through the Steamworks partner site by navigating to your titles landing page and selecting "Create Commercial Package" under the "Store Presence" tab.
Note: This option is only available if you're already selling a regular end user version of the app on Steam. You won't see the Create Commercial Package button until after you launch your game.
If your Steamworks partner has already signed the Cafe Distribution Addendum, you'll be able to proceed and create the package. If not, you'll see the requirement to sign that Addendum.
The Addendum covers the licensing and agreement terms to sell a Commercial package. It's necessary because the initial Steam Distribution Agreement only covers personal, non-commercial copies that you sell to normal end users.
Please note: only the Actual Authority account from your Steamworks partner will be able to complete the agreement signing process.
Once the Cafe Distribution Addendum is signed, you will be able to create a Commercial package, and continue with the process of setting a price.
We recommend offering the commercial license at the same price as the regular end user version.
Prices will then get approved by Valve.
As soon as the prices are approved, you will be able to publish the license by selecting "Release" next to the commercial license package.
Your game's commercial license will now be displayed right under the regular end user purchase option and will only be visible to licensees of the Steam PC Café Program.
Special Content for Commercial Packages
Steam allows publishers and developers to add special features or additional content just for Cafés by making a new package and defining the content to be included in the package. We encourage developers to consider this as a way to tailor their game for use in a Café. The commercial version should, at a minimum, include the same game content as the regular end user version.
In addition to opening the ability to more game sales, offering access to your games through commercial sites like Cafés can be a great way to expand the visibility of your games, drive up player numbers, and build word of mouth on your titles.
Cafés and public gaming spaces are inherently populated with core consumers and influencers. They provide an opportunity for users to see and play games they may not otherwise get a chance to play. This is especially true in territories such as Korea, Taiwan, SE Asia, Turkey, China and in new markets like LATAM and India, where playing games is primarily done in public spaces such as Cafés.
Commercial sites can be any location that provides access to the Internet, which includes but is not limited to Cybercafés, PC Bangs, retail shops, coffee shops, schools, libraries, hospitals, theaters, airplanes, buses, trains, subways, etc. You can find additional information about licensee requirements here.
The customer facing website and information can be found here.
Commercial License Creation
You can create your own commercial license package through the Steamworks partner site by navigating to your titles landing page and selecting "Create Commercial Package" under the "Store Presence" tab.
Note: This option is only available if you're already selling a regular end user version of the app on Steam. You won't see the Create Commercial Package button until after you launch your game.
If your Steamworks partner has already signed the Cafe Distribution Addendum, you'll be able to proceed and create the package. If not, you'll see the requirement to sign that Addendum.
The Addendum covers the licensing and agreement terms to sell a Commercial package. It's necessary because the initial Steam Distribution Agreement only covers personal, non-commercial copies that you sell to normal end users.
Please note: only the Actual Authority account from your Steamworks partner will be able to complete the agreement signing process.
Once the Cafe Distribution Addendum is signed, you will be able to create a Commercial package, and continue with the process of setting a price.
We recommend offering the commercial license at the same price as the regular end user version.
Prices will then get approved by Valve.
As soon as the prices are approved, you will be able to publish the license by selecting "Release" next to the commercial license package.
Your game's commercial license will now be displayed right under the regular end user purchase option and will only be visible to licensees of the Steam PC Café Program.
Special Content for Commercial Packages
Steam allows publishers and developers to add special features or additional content just for Cafés by making a new package and defining the content to be included in the package. We encourage developers to consider this as a way to tailor their game for use in a Café. The commercial version should, at a minimum, include the same game content as the regular end user version.
How does the license management work in a Café?
Licensees will be able to purchase commercial game licenses in bulk with one (master) account through the commercial section in the Steam store. (Floating) commercial licenses can be used on any PC that is permanently or temporarily connected to the Café’s network.
For example, a site can have 20 PCs and only 10 commercial licenses for a game. The first 10 PCs to use the content are provided access, the rest are denied until the licensee adds additional game licenses or usage of the original 10 free up. The program will support the concurrent licensing model across all locations identified under the same business entity. If one of these organizations operates from multiple locations (sites), they can identify each site during the registration process and share all licensed Steam content across all the sites. Steam handles the management of that content through a local site server at each location.Is it safe from piracy?
The Steam PC Café Program safely manages games through a concurrent seat format that is meant to discourage traditional piracy found around the world where Cafés are trying to minimize the cost of licensing every Café seat. This program requires the Cafés to be online all the time to have access to the legitimate commercial licenses they subscribed to.Can visitors of a Café purchase in-game content and DLC while using the commercial game license?
Yes! Users will be logging in with their own Steam account in the Cafés and can purchase content or in-game items with their Steam account while using the Café's commercial license. It can be considered as a smaller investment into your game before they purchase the whole game with their own account.Can Café visitors use their personal copy of a game?
Yes. Besides using the commercial game licenses from the location's license pool, visitors can also play all of their regular games they own with their personal Steam account. Customers that bring in their laptop, and are allowed to join the network running the PC Café Server, will also be able to access the games in the license pool.Is the Café required to purchase commercial copies of the games?
No, agreeing to the PC Café license provides the individual or business with a license to use Steam, SteamVR and any commercially licensed content that is available for free on Steam.Can I provide Steam Keys to Cafés?
Only commercial licenses, purchased via Steam, will be compatible with the Café program and its suite of features. Please do not provide regular retail/alpha keys to commercially licensed Cafés, as this will not cover them with the necessary agreement and they may run into issues in the future.Can a commercial license be VAC banned?
No, VAC bans will be assigned to the customer's Steam account that was using the game at the time of the infraction. We also recommend location owners to discourage cheating in their establishments, as a high number of bans associated with accounts used in the location may result in removal from the PC Café Program.If I want to see other samples of commercial licenses where do I go?
Check out our PC Café content hub here.
You can also tick the "Commercial License" option under "Show selected types" when using the filter to search the Steam store. On the game's store page, the commercial license price will be displayed right under the regular purchase option.Are commercial licenses refundable?
The refund policy is set up to closely mimic the consumer version (2 weeks/2 hours).Can I see if a player is in a Café?
You can make use of our webAPI ownership calls to find out if the player is accessing a license from the Café they're in and provide them with special items or content. Please refer to our API documentation here.Can I offer a different version of the app to commercial licensees?
Yes! You may add a special version of your app to commercial licenses. You can add a separate Depot and then specify it via the commercial license package. Owners of the commercial license will automatically download the differing content that has been assigned to the package. This allows partners to add game modes, scoring features or even unlock content to those customers - if it makes sense in a Café or arcade environment.Where do I find my commercial sales data?
Your Steam Sales Report is available on the secure partner site under the "Reports" tab. Commercial license sales data will be listed separately once they occur.I am a publisher and would like to receive additional information about the Steam PC Café Program. What should I do?
If you have any further questions, you can also reach out to us via cybercafes@valvesoftware.com
