[docimg=daily_deal_updated.jpg]daily_deal_updated.jpg[/docimg] [section]Daily Deal Eligibility[/section] Since Daily Deals appear prominently in the Steam Store and are visible to broad swaths of customers, we need to have confidence that these offers will be interesting to a broad set of customers. Therefore, we judge eligibility for daily deals based on demonstrated customer interest or trending momentum in revenue over the past few months. …

[section]How the Payment System Works[/section] The payment system is a combination of whatever purchase process you have in-game, the Steam billing web service, and a customer approval process. The purchase process occurs in the following sequence. Your user always starts and completes their order in your game. …

Steam will present the converted price to the user, in their local currency for approval. For the best customer experience it is recommended that you provide specific pricing in each currency you expect your customers to use. [*] A list of one or more items that the user wishes to purchase. …

Issues like the sticky B button some developers have reported have been addressed and won't be an issue for customers. [b]Can we use a VM for Steam Deck development?[/b] We don't recommend it unless you're just testing UI - you won't be able to test GPU performance with a VM. …

[/b] You'll see the overall categorization, as well as which compat passed or failed (most of which customers will also see), and you'll also see an additional developer-only field for notes / clarification from testers where relevant. …

In general, we find that players in Asian countries are more impacted by lack of translation, whereas many Western European customers already speak English as a second language. Learn more: [doclink=store/localization]Localization & Languages[/doclink] [*][h3]Alpha and Beta testing[/h3] It can feel hard to share your game with others before you really feel that it's 'done' or polished enough. …

You can use these other channels to your advantage to make sure that potential customers are aware that your game exists and is coming. As with any form of marketing, there is no specific recipe to follow. The best results come from speaking to your audience in a way that is genuine for you and your product. …

. [*]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. This also gives you the opportunity to practice how you talk about your product so that you can have the best presentation when you hit the ‘release’ button. …

[b] What you shouldn’t publish on Steam:[/b] [olist] [*]Hate speech, i.e. speech that promotes hatred, violence or discrimination against groups of people based on ethnicity, religion, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation [*]Nude or sexually explicit images of real people [*]Adult content that isn’t appropriately labeled and age-gated [*]Libelous or defamatory statements [*]Content you don’t own or have adequate rights to [*]Content that violates the laws of any jurisdiction in which it will be available [*]Content that is patently offensive or intended to shock or disgust viewers [*]Content that exploits children in any way [*]Applications that modify customer’s computers in unexpected or harmful ways, such as malware or viruses [*]Applications that fraudulently attempts to gather sensitive information, such as Steam credentials or financial data (e.g. credit card information) [*]Video content not directly related to a product that has shipped on Steam. [*]Non-interactive 360 VR Videos [*]Applications built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs. [*]Applications with advertising-based business models. [*]Content that may violate the rules and standards set forth by Steam’s payment processors and related card networks and banks, or internet network providers. …

[section=build]SteamPipe Builds and Patch Notes[/section] When submitting a new build for your game via SteamPipe, a small prompt will automatically appear to encourage you to also post a patch note for your customers. This prompt lets you easily submit your patch notes inlines at the point after submitting the build. Often developers will use this to write a bullet point list of the changes made. Patch notes following your build updates is helpful for your customers to realize you are continuing work on and improve your game. [docimg=41b67b4a94e6487c5e07c6085dbb9d63d8d9e166.jpg]41b67b4a94e6487c5e07c6085dbb9d63d8d9e166.jpg[/docimg] You can always use the regular event editor to post the patch notes at a later time. …

Whether you choose to integrate our anti-cheat APIs or use your own solution, make sure you give your customers proper warning that such a system exists and that you have UI ingame that clearly explains the ban. For an introduction to anti-cheat and general best practices, we recommend that you watch the [url=http://steamcommunity.com/devdays]Steam Dev Days[/url] talk "Anti-Cheat for Multiplayer Games" ([docfile=AntiCheat.pdf]slides[/docfile]) https://www.youtube.com/watch?…

ref=3784-QLBM-5731]Family Library Sharing[/url], the ban is also applied to the actual owner of the game. [*] The user will not be eligible for an automatic refund [/list] More details can be found in our customer facing FAQ: [url=https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6899-IOSK-9514]Banned by Game Developer (Game Ban)[/url]. …

A depot is a logical grouping of files which are all delivered to a customer as a single group. Depots are uniquely identified by a [b]Depot ID[/b]. When a customer installs an app, one or more depots are downloaded and "mounted" on their local drive, according to the rules outlined in the [doclink=#depot_mounting_rules][/doclink] below. …

[docimg=ArtworkOverride_Config.jpg]ArtworkOverride_Config.jpg[/docimg] [*]With your new temporary artwork override selected from the drop-down, you can drag and drop your images into the blue upload box and click Upload. You’ll see your new custom images in the page below. Then, publish your changes and your capsule art will automatically override during your selected timespan. …

[/olist] Artwork Overrides work with localized assets just like normal capsule art, so you can even localize your bespoke capsules to make your event or update understandable to as many customers as possible. [section]Best Practices & Tips[/section] Some common scenarios you may encounter: [olist] [*]It can be a great idea to time your content updates and artwork overrides with a game discount. [*]If you are coordinating an artwork override with a discount, you should schedule your artwork override to start 5 minutes before the discount kicks off to ensure that your new artwork gets picked up and included in any wishlist email that goes out. [*]The Header capsule is used in the Daily Deal spot and in many lists throughout the store. [*]The Main capsule is used on wishlist emails. …

For this reason, Free Weekends are typically combined with other kinds of curated discounts, which are promoted to customers on Steam, for example a [b]Daily Deal[/b] or [b]Weekend Deal[/b]. While there aren't exact rules, as a base guideline we tend to focus on the most-played or best-selling games on Steam for these kinds of promotions. …

Keep in mind that players have a wide range of free-to-play games and free demos available on Steam every day, so temporarily offering a paid game for free doesn't guarantee interest from customers. In general, Free Weekends tend to perform best for games with lots of replayable content or games with strong multiplayer elements that benefit from an influx of new players (such as improved matchmaking or enhanced social gameplay). …

If you’re interested in releasing a beta version of your game that any customer can buy, check out [doclink=store/earlyaccess]Early Access[/doclink]. There are two common ways of setting up testing for external audiences: [olist] [*]Using the Steam Playtest feature. [*]Using the main game's App ID with release override keys. …

Instead of having its own separate store page, your Steam Playtest signup will live right on your main game, so that customers can sign up and access the playtest but still Wishlist or Follow the main game. Check out the [doclink=features/playtest][/doclink] documentation for the full set-up instructions, configuration scenarios, best practices and FAQs. …

[section]Overview[/section] Steam has a set of tools for creating and configuring a custom sale landing page that you can use to highlight games for a special sale, game festival, or digital companion for a physical convention. …

[/list] [section=visibility]Visibility[/section] Sale landing pages may be accessed in a number of ways, and some of these ways require discussion and approval from Valve: [list] [*][b]Custom URL[/b] - The custom URL that you give your sale page will work as a great way for you to link to the sale from your website or other marketing activities you have planned. [*][b]Event Announcement[/b] - A link from the announcement portion of your event will lead players to your page. …

. [*] [b]The description will need to be detailed and coherent.[/b] It's important that customers know what to expect before they purchase your product. You should not include links to other websites from this section. [/list] [subsection]Reviewing Early Access Store Page[/subsection] For titles that are releasing in Early Access, you will need to answer all the questions in the Early Access section. In this section, you want to give customers a clear expectation of what the current version of your game contains, and what features and content still need to be added before the game is considered complete. …

[/td][/tr] [tr][td][doclink=sitelicense/users][/doclink][/td][td]Click here if you are a PC Cafe or VR Arcade customer and would like more information.[/td][/tr]…

[subsection]Situation[/subsection] You've got a released game with customers already playing it and you need to rename your exe. [subsection]Solution[/subsection] The order of operations can matter here, as setting a build live doesn’t go through the publish process but changing the launch options does. …

[section]Steam Deck™ Branding Requirements and Logos[/section] Last Updated: May 2,2022 [docimg=300.jpg]300.jpg[/docimg] [docfile=steamDeck_guidelines_042922.pdf]Click here[/docfile] to view the Steam Deck Brand Guidelines [docfile=Steam_Deck_Logo_TM.eps]Click here[/docfile] to download Steam Deck logo files [section]Steam Early Access Branding Requirements[/section] We work hard to make sure that customers understand what they are buying when they get an Early Access title on Steam. We feel it is equally important that customers buying Steam Early Access titles in other places also understand what they are getting. …

As part of the release process on Steam, you will be required to deliver various graphical assets for your product. These assets are displayed in customer's libraries and in the community. [section]Store Capsule Rules[/section] [b][color=#ca5029]IMPORTANT NOTE:[/color][/b] Please see [doclink=store/assets/rules]Graphical Asset Rules[/doclink] for important rules on what can and cannot be included in your graphical asset capsules. …

Do not include quotes or other strings of text beyond the title of your game. The art should immediately tell the customer something important about your product. The logo should be easily legible against the background. [b]Size:[/b] 600px x 900px (an additional half-size 300px x 450px PNG will be auto-generated from larger file) [section=header]Library Header [color=#ca5029]Required[/color][/section] The library header is used in different places within the Steam Client Library. …

The [b]Steam PC Café Program[/b] enables PC Cafés, Schools, Libraries, and other organizations to let customers and students use their own Steam accounts onsite while also giving them access to any games or software purchased by the organization for use by end users. …

[section=Managing_Updates]Managing Updates[/section] After your app releases to customers, your customers will be receiving the build marked as the Default build. When uploading a new build it's always a good idea to test it before shipping it to your customers, for more information on how to successfully do this see [doclink=store/testing][/doclink]. …

Each build will merge itself with the already existing install image. [subsection]Customizing a Retail install disk[/subsection] See [doclink=sdk/goldmaster]Customizing a gold master[/doclink] for more details on customizing your retail install disk. …

Steam has a set of tools for creating and configuring a custom sale landing page that you can use to highlight games for a special sale, game festival, or digital companion for a physical convention. …