Steamworks Documentation
Release Process

Overview

The release of your product is mostly in your hands, though Valve will need to review and approve your product before release. You can pick the date that it should release and you can configure most features yourself. The general process for launching your product on Steam is displayed at the top of your product landing page in Steamworks.

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Complete Release Checklists

There are two checklists, one part of the checklist is for your store page and one part is for your product build and configuration. You can view your checklist on the right-hand side of the app landing page.

Once you have completed the checklist, you'll need to click "Mark as ready for review" to communicate to Valve that you have completed the necessary work items and are ready for your store page and proposed pricing to be reviewed. Please note that you'll need to submit your store page for review before you can submit your build for review. Both checklists will need to be completed, reviewed, and approved prior to release. You can check the Review Process documentation for more information.

Your Store Presence

The Store Presence checklist consist of required items that need to be completed before you can list the store page as coming soon and for release. Once this checklist is finished, you'll be able to submit your store presence for review by clicking "Mark as ready for review".

Your Product Build

The Product Build checklist consist of required items to prepare your application for release on Steam. Upload the build that you intended to release with to the default branch. Once you have completed the app build checklist and feel that your application is ready to release, you can click "Mark as ready for review" to communicate to Valve that you are ready for your product build to be reviewed for release. Please note that you'll need to submit your store presence for review before you can submit your build for review.

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Release Yourself When Ready

Once your page has been approved, you will need to use the green "Release App" button that appear on the top of your product landing page in Steamworks at the time you wish to release your title.

Approved titles will not release themselves -- you need to use these controls yourself at the moment you wish your product to be released. You can check our Release Options documentation for more information on the types of releases we support.

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After you click "Release App", you'll see a summary of actions that the release process will do, including publishing the store package, setting the launch discount live, setting the game to playable and released and applying the release timestamp of "NOW".

You'll then click "Publish Now" and will be prompted with a confirmation dialog box. Once complete click "Release Now" and the release process will begin.