New to Steam or looking for a refresher on important topics?

Our most useful and popular documentation pages are listed below, sorted by function. This is not an exhaustive list of articles on Steam, but is meant to give you a place to start.

One of the first things to understand is that Steam refers to the customer-facing platform where customers buy games, write reviews, discuss game strategies, post screenshots, and more. Steamworks is the backend platform that holds the tools that allow developers and publishers to make changes to their public-facing Steam pages, upload builds, manage their banking information, and more.

Table of Contents

Required Reading

General Knowledge

Topics in this section are important for you to understand, regardless of your role, as foundational information on How Steam Works.

Sorted by Topic

Steamworks - Account Management	Organizing your Partner account on Steam, including details on banking, tax, and permissions.
Game Development	A non-exhaustive list of the many game development options and tools that are available on Steam.
Release Management	Requirements, tools, and best practices on managing your game's lifecycle on Steam.
Monetization	Pricing, discounting, game monetization models, and more.
Marketing	All things marketing on Steam, and some details on managing marketing from off Steam too.
Advanced Tools	Once you've got the basics down, there's even more you can do with your game on Steam.

General Knowledge

There are some things that you should know about, regardless of your role, if you're going to be using Steam. Here's a short list of what you probably want to know.

How Steam Is Organized

Topic	Link	Notes
Applications	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/application	Applications are the backbone of how Steam organizes and manages your game. This is important information that every Steamworks user should understand.
Packages	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/application/packages	When customers purchase your game, they purchase a package, not an Application - learn more about how that works here.
Wishlists	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/wishlist	Customers can wishlist your game, which signals strong interest and enables emails to them when your title goes through major milestones. These are very important signals both before and after your game launches.

How Your Game is Presented to Customers

Topic	Link	Notes
Coming Soon	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/coming_soon	Learn more about the Coming Soon phase of release, where your store page is public to customers but not yet available for sale.
Store Pages	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/page	Your store page is the face of your game. Learn more about getting it approved and how to change it.
User Reviews	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/reviews	Steam reviews are a valuable tool for customers to learn about your game. Learn more about how those work here, including advice on how to handle them.
Wishlists	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/wishlist	Customers can wishlist your game, which signals strong interest and enables emails to them when your title goes through major milestones. These are very important signals both before and after your game launches.

How Customers Find Your Game

Topic	Link	Notes
Tags	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/tags	Ever wonder how Steam categorizes games? Well, firstly, you do - and here's how to set it up.
Visibility on Steam	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/visibility	Ever wonder what determines where your game shows up? Learn more about how that works across Steam and on the front page here.
Upcoming (Sales) Events	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/upcoming_events	Steam runs many events, including Seasonal Sales, Next Fest, and theme Fests. Learn more about what's upcoming, and how to join, on this page.

Steamworks - Account Management

Are you responsible for finances, keeping up on paperwork or managing permissions? Here are the pages you want to be aware of.

Topic	Link	Notes
Onboarding to Steam	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/gettingstarted	Learn more about how to get started on Steamworks, the back-end portal that helps you manage your game on Steam.
Managing Your Steamworks Account	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/gettingstarted/managing_users	Learn more about organizing your users, your groups, and giving the right people the right permissions.
Finance	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/finance	Revenue reporting, refund reporting, tax FAQ and more!

Game Development

This catch-all section has information on all things technical, common Steam features, and more.

Steam Features

Here are some common Steam features that you may want to integrate in your game.

Topic	Link	Notes
Localization and Languages	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/localization	Learn more about how to support multiple languages on Steam. As a global platform, localization is important to maximizing visibility.
Early Access	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/earlyaccess	Early Access allows games to be sold ahead of 1.0 release, and is a promise to customers to take customer feedback into consideration during the development process. Early Access is not a marketing tool, and not a pre-purchase.
Demos	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/application/demos	Steam has the ability to provide free demos for your customers so that they can try before they buy. Learn more here.
Steam Playtest	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/playtest	Steam Playtest is a free, low-risk way to get playtesting data on your game. This tool works for both small closed betas and large technical stress tests.
Multiplayer	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/multiplayer	Does your game support multiplayer? Learn more about the tools available to you here.
Steam Remote Play	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/remoteplay	Remote Play Together allows friends to join an active gaming session as if they were sitting at the same computer. You can also use this to enable remote testing without having to download any files
Steam Workshop	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/workshop	Workshop houses User Generated Content, and here's how to implement it in your game.

Technical Features

Here are some more technical Steam features that you should consider integrating into your game.

Topic	Link	Notes
Steam Cloud	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/cloud	Easy and transparent remote file storage for your game - save files, settings, and more!
Steam DRM	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm	Learn more about verifying game ownership and ensuring Steamworks features work properly with Steam DRM.
Steam Input	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/steam_controller	The hub for all things input device (ie controllers!) on Steamworks.

Technical References

Topic	Link	Notes
Builds	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/application/builds	Builds determine what content is being delivered to the customer. That, and more about beta branches, here.
Testing Your Game	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/testing	Be sure to test that your game works, and that your game works on Steam. More on how to do that here.
Common Redistributables	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/common_redist	Have a redistributable your game needs? Learn more about using Common ones here and let us do the install script work.
User Authentication	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/auth	Steamworks exposes multiple methods for authenticating a Steam user's identity, and verifying ownership of an application. Learn more here.
Virtual Reality	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/steamvr	Learn more about SteamVR, and how to get your VR game to work on Steam.
Uploading to Steam	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/uploading	Here's our head to toe walkthrough on uploading things to Steam.

SDK + APIs

Looking for how to get your game on Steam? That, and APIs, here.

Topic	Link	Notes
The Steamworks SDK	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk	This is how you upload your game to Steam. Very important.
Steamworks API Overview	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/api	If you want to get into some of the features Steam has, the Steamworks API is how you do a lot of it.
Steamworks API Reference	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/api	Now that you know how to do API calls, here's the list of things you can do.
Web API Overview	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/webapi_overview	Steam has a web API which you can use to access Steamworks features. Learn more about how to access it here.
Web API Reference	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/webapi	And now that you've learned how to access it, look at the list of things you can do with it.

Release Management

We try and make releasing your game on Steam relatively simple; even still, you can be extra prepared by taking a look at the topics below before you have to do it.

Topic	Link	Notes
Coming Soon	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/coming_soon	Learn more about the Coming Soon phase of release, where your store page is public to customers but not yet available for sale.
Getting Ready for Release	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/releasing	Learn more about the two checklists that are required for release.
Graphical Assets	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/assets	Learn more about all of the types of graphic assets you'll need to prepare to release your title.
Trailers	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/trailer	Trailers are required to release on Steam. More on best practices and requirements here.
Release Dates	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/release_dates	Ready to tell the world when your release date is? Learn more about your options here.
Releasing My Game	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/types https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/review_process	There are a few ways to release on Steam - learn more about them here.
Updating Your Game	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/updates	Steam is built around the core functionality of keeping your game up-to-date with the latest build of your game. We've collected some best practices for you to review here.
Game Removal/Retirement	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/retire_app	If you need to stop selling your game for some reason, learn more here about how to accomplish that.
Steam Keys	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/keys	Steam keys are a free service that allows you to sell your game on other stores, provide access to beta testers, and more. There are strict rules around keys - learn more here.

Monetization

There are many ways you might try and monetize your game - here are your options on Steam, as well as additional information regarding discounting and pricing your title.

Topic	Link	Notes
Pricing	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/pricing	The price of your game is entirely up to you, but learn more about our rules and best practices here.
Discounting	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing	Information on running discounts on Steam, along with cooldown rules.
DLC	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/application/dlc	If you have additional content - from anything from an expansion to cosmetics - and you want to offer that at a cost directly on the store page of the game? That's DLC.
Free to Play	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/freetoplay	Free to Play is a way to provide your game to customers for free to download. This includes games with in-app purchases (Free to Play/F2P) and totally free experiences (free).
Microtransactions (IAP)	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/microtransactions	Learn more about in-game purchases on Steam.
Pre-Purchases	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/prepurchase	Most games will not qualify for pre-purchases on Steam. But if you think it could be you, read on to learn more about our requirements.

Marketing

Articles in this section are focused around marketing - both things that can be done on Steam, as well as tips and tricks for Steam as a platform.

Topic	Link	Notes
Features & Tools	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/tools	A primer on the many features and tools you can use to market your game on Steam. Many of those tools have individual pages, listed below.
Best Practices	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/bestpractices	Our best practices, summarized in one neat page.
Events and Announcements	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/event_tools	We think talking to your customers is really important. Steam has a system built to help you communicate.
Upcoming (Sales) Events	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/upcoming_events	Steam runs many events, including Seasonal Sales, Next Fest, and theme Fests. Learn more about what's upcoming, and how to join, on this page.
Steam Community	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/community	All games have a community hub by default. Learn more about what goes on in there - discussions! screenshots! news! reviews! guides!
Developer and Publisher Homepages	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/creator_homepage	Developer and Publisher Homepages are a central location on Steam for customers to view all the games made by your organization.
Franchise Pages	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/franchise_pages	Franchise Pages are a way for you to organize a set of related games together.
Livestreaming	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/broadcast	You can livestream to your store page or an event page. Learn more on how to accomplish that here.

Advanced Tools

Okay, you've read all the other stuff. Here are some topics you might want to read about next.

Topic	Link	Notes
Profile Features	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/profile	Once your game has gained enough popularity, Steam unlocks a set of features for your title like Trading Cards and Badges.
Steam Community Items	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/marketing/tradingcards	Learn more about Steam Trading Cards, Badges, and more and get templates on what those should look like.
Steam Deck	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/steamdeck	Steam Deck is our next generation handheld gaming device - learn more about preparing your game for the device, our verification program, and various social assets.
Promotional Sale Pages	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/store/promo	Want to create a custom sale landing page on Steam? This is the page for you.
Steam Families	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/families	Steam Families is a feature that allows users to play games from up to five close family members' libraries. Learn more here.
Steam Inventory Service	https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/inventory	This feature allows persistent player inventories, which allows you to drop items to users' Steam inventories, or grant them based on specific triggers.

If you're looking for more information, you'll have to go digging in the documentation. If you have any questions that aren't answered by reviewing documentation, please feel free to message us via the Support Portal.