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this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2025
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To release something for free on steam, does it cost $100?
you a pay deposit to publish on steam, you get it back after enough sales
Is that 100 per game or per developer account?
Per game.
Oof. Forking over a hundred dollars as a dev just out of college looking to get broader critiques kinda sucks
Steam refunds the fee if you make over $1000 in Gross Adjusted Revenue.
It’s supposed to be a tactic to discourage shovelware.
If you're just looking for critiques there's plenty of other spaces to post your product. 100USD for the outreach & services steam provide a developer is actually quite cheap in western countries. I could see it being more difficult in parts of the world with lower purchasing power though unless they have some regional pricing scheme.
$100 is nothing compared to how long a game costs to make. Hundreds of development hours is tens of thousands of dollars. And if you’re making a game for less than a hundred development hours… maybe it’s not a very good game?
Most student projects I found weren't particularly good, you’re right. They seemed to be looking for perspective on a specific thread they were winding through. Whether it be visuals or a basic gameplay loop. It’s just funny to look back and see thousands of dollars and hours spent to receive responses like “I couldn’t get past the first page because the menu was broken.”
It doesn’t seem like Steam is the right venue for a student project. It’s not a place to receive basic feedback which students or novices would need to improve.
Depending on what you're looking for in critique, Steam may not be a great place to get feedback. If you're looking for just a handful of focus users, you're better off uploading a game to itch.io and then asking people to try it via whatever relevant channels you're looking at.
Steam is better for reviews. Though reviews are not aimed at the dev but aimed at potential buyers which is very different looking.
I would distribute on Github, make a Flatpack, or use itch.io or similar for a hobby project.
Come on, what can a hundred dollars be anyway? Five bananas?
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