What is Steam?

Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront developed by Valve Corporation.
You can buy and store games in your personal library all in one app.
It’s the ultimate place for playing, discussing, and distributing games.
There are at least 20 million users online using steam at any one time; check out their steam chart here: https://store.steampowered.com/charts 

How steam makes money?

Steam operates on a commission structure, so there is no subscription fee to use it; however, it takes a 30% cut from any game sold in their store.

How does Steam display its games? 

Steam has such a lot going on it’s tricky to view all the games, because there is so many being released on steam each year.
According to Steam DB there was over 14,000 games released in 2023.
Whilst I am writing this, there has currently been 10,226 games released in 2024 so far.
Steam uses a Discovery Algorithm to promote and show games to the induvial based on:
• Games you’ve played with similar tags.
• Popular & upcoming games
• Top selling games
• Games on your Wishlist

However, there are lots of other sections on steam like:
• Special offers
• Browse by category
• Discovery Que
• Recently updated
• From Developers you know
• New & Trending
• And lots more.

How do I create a steam page?

There is quite a process to get a game on steam and it takes careful planning to launch a game. Below are links to the official steam application process and getting started documents to help guide you through the process.

Steps as a summary:
1. Sign digital paperwork.
2. Pay the app Deposit fee $100
3. Complete bank, Tax & Identification paperwork
4. You then gain access to build your steam page, configure & upload your builds.
5. Steam plays your game, checks your store page, checks if there is any harmful content, and sees if it’s configured correctly. The game must also comply with the Steam Subscriber Agreement, Steam Online conduct and Privacy Policy agreement This can take between 1-5 days.
6. There is also a couple of timing requirements before you can hit the release button:
a. A 30-Day waiting period from when you paid the $100 Deposit, for steam to verify the information you have supplied, and to confirm who they’re doing business with
b. You will need to configure your store page and put a publicly visible ‘Coming soon’ page for at least 2 weeks. This will enable you to start getting people adding your game to their Wishlist and start people talking about your game.
7. Once these steps are complete, you are ready to hit that release button and update your page whenever you want.