Steam sends developers monthly reminders

Steam, like a landlord, requires a 100-euro deposit to publish your game. It reminds you monthly.

Valve’s Steam terms favour independent developers, which explains the abundance of tiny, almost home-made games alongside AAA productions. However, openness has some drawbacks. Also, Valve’s claim that small programmers don’t make enough money.

The cost of not charging. A developer posted an email from Valve on Reddit telling him he hadn’t reached the $100 revenue threshold to charge for a game. Another followed him and shared a screenshot of his email with dozens of identical Steam messages repeating the same refrain every month: his revenue is below 100 euros, so he won’t charge. The developer claims his game is free-to-play.

Minimum 100 euros. Valve added a minimum of 100 euros to developer payments in 2017. Steam Greenlight, which allowed developers to publish unlimited games for 100 euros, was discontinued. Since 2017, Valve keeps 100 euros as a deposit if launch income doesn’t exceed it.

Indies vs. Steam. The 100 euro deposit, while a good deal for indies, has been a rocky road of back-and-forth: before its announcement, Steam said it was considering requiring studios to pay $100 to $5,000 per published game, sparking developer protests. Valve settled on $100 as the “lowest possible fee.”

The payment method. Steam’s terms of service explain the deposit: “Paying small amounts of money would hurt you (the studio) because there are costs associated with each payment and potential bank fees. Thus, we will not pay until you earn $100.” If bank fees are high, Steam lets developers set a higher minimum.

Spam folder. After seven years of Valve emails, the developer asked Steam to stop sending him emails and keep the money or donate it to charity, but Steam refused. Even if Valve’s store didn’t make 100 euros, the exposure was worth it.Independent games allow smaller developers to make an impact without joining a larger company. Their titles may not sell as well as AAA ones, but they will find a niche. Steam lets creators make money if they want. According to emails sent to “indies” by Valve, they expect no other scenario.

One creator shared a meme “inspired by true events” on the indie game sub-Reddit, sparking a brief but intriguing discussion. Captain0010 received an email from Valve saying his September payout was delayed due to low income.

Captain0010 is working on a third independent game, which he announced in the comments. Due to platform regulations, the payout notification did not contain any money for him. Valve only pays for published games over $100.

Valve’s persistence is limitless. A developer who has received the same monthly email for seven years commented. A 2017 F2P game was made by Raicuparta. He hasn’t made a penny on Steam since then, so he didn’t get his due.

A few years ago, the indie developer asked Valve to stop sending messages or withhold money and donate it to charity. Raicuparty’s mailbox is still full, but Steam is trying to be fair in financial matters.

Steam sends developers monthly reminders

Steam, like a landlord, requires a 100-euro deposit to publish your game. It reminds you monthly.

By triji

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Steam sends developers monthly reminders