In Brief
Set up a livestream to appear on your game's store page, developer homepage or special sale landing page.Level of integration
Basic streaming of your gameplay through Steam is built in. Streaming that includes a webcam takes some webpage configuration and a third-party tool such as OBS.Note: This is a BETA feature. It may change at any time or it may be discontinued.
Table of contents
Broadcasting on Steam
Steam offers a feature that allows content to be streamed to Steam client and the web store. The most common example for such content is live game play, others include developer discussion round-tables, game or developer history documentary among others.
Streamed content shows up on the game's store page and on the Broadcast hub under the Community section. If popular, the stream also gets featured on the Home Page.
Based on partner feedback we received, streaming live game play can offer some benefits. The developer/publisher is able to
- Engage the target audience
- Help existing players explore the full game
- Infuse excitement into the community around updates
Steam Broadcast Features
Broadcast is a complimentary service and is available to all partners at no additional cost.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of features:
- Enables live or pre-recorded content to be streamed to your Steam product page/s
- Automatically shows the 'Live' tag when applicable throughout the Steam store
- Popular streams are surfaced on the Steam home page which generates traffic for the streams
- Steam Chat is integrated into the streaming experience
- Integrates seamlessly into your existing broadcast plans through multi-streaming (streaming simultaneously to different platforms)
- Provides a rich broadcast experience complete with audio and graphic overlays (webcam, logos, announcements etc.)
- Operates on open source technology (OBS)
Here's a screen grab of a broadcast in action on Steam.
How it works
Streaming to Steam requires the use of streaming and recording programs such as the free software OBS (Open Broadcaster Software). The performer needs to install OBS on her/his desktop, and either stream live game play or stream existing video files. The streaming video with audio and overlays (if any) from the performer's desktop is then either sent directly to Steam client and Web store, or sent to a multi-streaming provider e.g. Restream.io, where it is forked into multiple streams headed for different platforms (e.g. Steam, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Mixer etc.).
Here's an illustration on how it works.
What you need to get started
A publisher or developer can get started with broadcasting to Steam with the following.
- Create a broadcasting plan and schedule
- Create a Restream.io account if you are looking to broadcast to multiple platforms (e.g. Twitch, Steam, Mixer, YouTube etc.)
- Complete the settings, do a small test stream
- Identify a performer/influencer
- Whitelist the Steam account of all performers for each game you would like to stream about
- Moderate the chat
- Capture feedback (optional but important)
Please Give Us Feedback
Broadcast on the store page is currently in open beta. We are looking for your feedback to make it better. If you plan on using this feature, we recommend you join the '
Store Broadcast Beta' group. We use this group to announce features as they launch. We use the discussion forum to answer your questions, receive your feedback, comments and bug reports.
