Beyond Steam: Where else to sell your game

Article

Steam is the leading global platform for selling game content, developed by Valve. As of September 2025, the Steam catalog included over 148,000 games and 62,000 DLCs, with around 147 million monthly active users. But Steam isn't the only path to success for developers. We've researched alternative platforms — here's where to promote your PC games and what to watch for when publishing.

Risks and drawbacks of Steam

Developers and publishers face several challenges on Steam — both at launch and after a title has gained a player base.

Problem 1. High competition and low visibility

For independent studios, getting noticed on Steam can be a serious challenge. Dozens of new games are released on the platform every day — thousands every year. In this flood of content, many high-quality projects easily get lost.

Steam's recommendation algorithms, designed to help players discover new games, often make this problem worse. The system tends to promote titles that already have strong sales and positive reviews, putting new and niche games at a disadvantage. As a result, the responsibility for marketing falls entirely on the developer or publisher. Without active promotion on social media and in the press, the chances that players will see the game's page are very low.

Problem 2. Financial terms

Steam charges a standard commission of 30% on all game sales. Although the platform has introduced a tiered revenue-sharing model, it only really benefits a small number of projects. The commission drops to 25% only after a game earns more than $10 million, and to 20% after $50 million. For most indie studios, these numbers are unrealistic.

On top of that, Steam charges a $100 fee for each game submitted to the platform. For small teams with limited budgets, these conditions can be discouraging.

Problem 3. Platform policies and restrictions

Steam has built a massive audience largely by prioritizing the player experience — offering a consistent and predictable interface across all games. This is convenient for players, but it doesn't always align with developers' interests.

Customization of game store pages is very limited. These pages follow a strict template, making it hard to create a unique and memorable brand identity.
Players can request a refund if they've played the game for less than two hours and no more than 14 days have passed since purchase. This can be especially harmful for short games — players might finish them completely and still get a refund, directly reducing the developers' income.
Valve is known for its "hands-off" approach when dealing with developers and publishers. While this has advantages, it often means limited support in handling disputes or toxic behavior in a game's community.

It's important to note that Steam isn't the only platform where these issues occur. For example, market oversaturation is a challenge on any open platform, and competitors also often have refund policies. However, on Steam, all of these problems come together in one place, posing significant obstacles to developers.

Other platforms

How to prevent unexpected issues — like getting blocked by a platform — from ruining your game's success? Publish it on multiple platforms at once! This approach expands not only your opportunities, but also your audience — different players prefer different platforms.

We reviewed platforms from the U.S., Europe, and China that can serve as excellent additions to Steam.

	Epic Games Store (USA) Buys exclusive rights to games Offers developer support programs
	GOG by CD Projekt (Poland) Sells DRM-free games Updates classic titles for new OS compatibility
	Humble Bundle (USA) Sells games in "pay-what-you-want" bundles Donates a portion of sales to charity
	Itch.io (founded by Leaf Corcoran, USA) Focuses on indie projects Supports independent developers
	Tencent's WeGame (China) Major competitor to Steam Main platform for entering the Chinese market
	Game Jolt (USA) Platform and social network for indie devs, gamers, and content creators Hosts jams and competitions for developers

Six platforms that complement Steam

Audience reach and commercial potential

Number of games. Indie platforms — where developers can publish games at any stage of development — lead by far in the number of published projects. The gaming platform and social network Game Jolt ranks first with around 1.6 million projects, followed by Itch.io with 1 million. A significant number of these titles are demos or early builds. Most of the games on these platforms are also free.

Steam takes third place, with nearly 150,000 projects. Unlike indie platforms, most games on Steam are paid and undergo stricter moderation.

Number of users. Not all platforms disclose user activity data, so identifying a clear leader isn't always possible. Steam passed 1 billion total accounts in 2019, and in Q1 2025 recorded 147 million monthly active users. Epic Games Store has over 295 million registered users. This is largely due to the platform's regular free game giveaways and exclusive titles like Fortnite.

In 2020, WeGame had 70 million monthly active users, while Game Jolt reached 4 million monthly visits by 2022.

Revenue. Only Steam and Epic Games Store regularly publish reliable revenue figures. In 2024, their revenues were $10.8 and $1.09 billion, respectively. Revenue data for other platforms is either outdated, only partially available, or not available at all.

GOG reported a net profit of $1.2 million in 2022. WeGame doesn't publish separate revenue data — it's part of Tencent's gaming division, which generated a total $27 billion in 2024. As for Humble Bundle, at least $12.4 million was given to charity from its 2024 sales.

Platform	Games available	User activity	2024 revenue (USD)
Steam	> 148,000	> 1B accounts 147M monthly	10.8B
Epic Games Store	> 4000	295M+ accounts	1.09B
GOG	> 11,000	n/a	n/a (1.2M net profit in 2022)
Humble Bundle	n/a	12M purchases in 2024	n/a (12.4M donated to charity in 2024)
itch.io	> 1M	115M visits in Aug 2025	n/a
WeGame	n/a	70M monthly in 2020	n/a (Tencent Games: 27B total)
Game Jolt	> 1.6M	4M monthly in 2022	n/a

Commercial success and platform reach

Publication costs

Steam earns the most from game publishing, taking a 30% cut of sales as well as a $100 submission fee per game. GOG charges the same 30% commission (but no submission fee). Epic Games takes a different approach — it charges only 12% of a game's revenue and doesn't take any commission from the first $1 million a game earns each year. The platform also offers the Epic First Run program: if developers publish their game exclusively on the Epic Games Store, they receive 100% of the revenue for the first six months, regardless of the game's performance.

Independent platforms like itch.io and Game Jolt offer the most benefits for developers with free or experimental projects. Creators set their own revenue share from each sale or from the game's total earnings. Typically, such platforms do not charge a high commission. For example, Game Jolt has set a cap of 10%.

Platform	Revenue share
Steam	$100 one-time game submission fee 30% from the sale of each game earning under $10M 25% for games earning $10–50M 20% for games earning over $50M
Epic Games Store	0% for the first 6 months under the Epic First Run program 0% after 6 months from the sale of each game earning under $1M 12% for games earning over $1M per year
GOG	30% from the sale of each game
Humble Bundle	25% from the sale of each game listed in the Humble Store 10% of revenue given to charity at the developer's discretion
itch.io	Developers set their own commission rate
WeGame	Commission rate is set individually for each project
Game Jolt	Developers set their own commission rate (up to 10%)

Commission taken by the platform from revenue

Publication requirements

Most platforms review games before publication. Developers must submit an application and wait for approval. Some platforms (Steam, GOG, WeGame) require projects to be integrated with their client software. This ensures the game meets the technical standards of the store. For example, to publish on WeGame, you must integrate the RailSDK into the game and launch it via the WeGame Developer Client Installer.

Platform	Publication requirements
Steam	Apply to join the Steamworks program Integrate the game with the Steam client
Epic Games Store	Mark projects as Early Access and provide detailed descriptions Do not publish the game on other platforms if it's in the Epic First Run program
GOG	Publish the game on GOG Galaxy
Humble Bundle	Submit an application to publish in the Humble Store. The platform may choose to include the game in the monthly Humble Bundle
itch.io	Remove any advertising from the game
WeGame	Integrate the RailSDK into the game Connect the game to the WeGame Developer Client Installer Fill out a developer portal application to publish an unfinished project
Game Jolt	Upload finished games as properly packaged builds Do not upload builds if the project is unfinished

Technical requirements for games

Success beyond Steam

Steam's authority is undeniable — it's widely used and, for many gamers, the default choice. But other platforms shouldn't be overlooked. They can deliver strong results — and sometimes much more support.

For beginner developers, indie platforms are the best starting point. Their communities are open to testing "raw" projects and experimenting with new ideas. For example, the detective puzzle game The Roottrees are Dead was born on itch.io. An amateur developer uploaded it to test its viability — but it quickly gained fans and caught the attention of a professional developer. Together, they finished the game and published it on Steam, earning over a million dollars.

Alternative platforms aren't just for beginners — professional studios can benefit too, especially through support programs. For example, Coffee Stain Studios used Epic Games Store's exclusive program (the predecessor of Epic First Run) while developing the game Satisfactory. The developers say the program helped them achieve stable income within the first six months and attract users. As a result, the studio sold 958,917 copies in Early Access on the Epic Games Store, then launched on Steam — where it sold 367,601 copies in just one month.

What else affects game promotion

Choosing a platform (or several) is an important step toward a successful release — but it's not the only one. You also need high-quality marketing materials, a strong presence on social media, and — crucially — localization into languages used by your players.

To do this effectively, professional support is essential. Experts can translate UI elements and character dialogue, create marketing content for new audiences, write social media posts, and provide voiceover for the game. They also handle cultural adaptation and ensure the game's content complies with local laws, while technical requirements work smoothly with the language's specific features.

Launching a game in a new market requires a comprehensive approach. Logrus IT provides full-cycle localization services: for 30 years, we've been translating games into European, Asian, and rare languages, providing voiceover, and evaluating localization quality. We also handle the creation, translation, and adaptation of marketing materials, as well as writing posts and articles. These efforts help you establish a presence in new markets and attract fresh audiences.

Want your game to succeed in any language? Contact us — we'll help you make your release truly global.

Let's discuss your project!