Steam's revenue share, explained
6 min read
By Eduardo Orellana ·
Valve keeps 30% of a game's Steam revenue up to $10 million, 25% of revenue between $10 million and $50 million, and 20% above $50 million, so almost every indie game pays 30%. The share is taken after sales taxes such as VAT, refunds and chargebacks, and most copies sell below the US list price because of discounts and regional pricing, so a developer typically keeps something like a third of the list price per copy, not 70%. Valve pays monthly, about 30 days after the month of the sales, once that month passes $100. Steam keys you sell on other stores carry no revenue share to Valve.
For almost every indie game, it is 30%
On 30 November 2018 Valve announced that its 30% share would fall for its biggest sellers. Since then the share has three tiers, by a game's lifetime revenue on Steam:
- 30% of revenue up to $10 million.
- 25% of revenue from $10 million to $50 million.
- 20% of revenue above $50 million.
The lower rates apply only to revenue above each threshold, like tax brackets. A game that earns $15 million pays 30% on the first $10 million ($3 million) and 25% on the next $5 million ($1.25 million): $4.25 million, an effective 28.3%. The revenue that counts includes the game's DLC and in-game purchases on Steam.
The obvious reading of the 2018 change was that it would help indie developers. It does not touch them: about 20,000 games came out on Steam in 2025, and only a handful of them will ever pass $10 million. For an indie game, the share is 30%, and the useful question is what it is 30% of.
What comes out before the split
The 30% is of what Steam actually collects for the game, not of the sticker price. Before it:
- Sales taxes. VAT and similar taxes go to governments first. In a country with 20% VAT, a €20 price holds about €16.67 before Valve's share. In the US, sales tax is added on top of the price instead.
- Refunds and chargebacks. Steam's refund policy lets players return a game within 14 days of purchase and under two hours of play, and refunded sales come back out.
- Regional prices and discounts. Many copies sell in regions priced below your US price, and many in sales. A $19.99 game typically lists at about $10.99 in Argentina and Turkey and ₹915 in India.
Steamworks' Sales & Activations reports show revenue before these deductions, in near real time; the monthly report itemises them and shows what you will actually be paid. Our Steamworks reports guide walks through both.
A worked example: from list price to what you keep
Take a $19.99 game that sells 10,000 copies in its first year. The assumptions are stated so you can change them: an average price paid of 60% of list after discounts and regional pricing, sales taxes of 10% of what players pay, and 5% refunds.
| Step | Amount | Per copy |
|---|---|---|
| List price × copies | $199,900 | $19.99 |
| Average price paid (60% of list) | $119,940 | $11.99 |
| Less sales taxes (10%) | $107,946 | $10.79 |
| Less refunds (5%) | $102,549 | $10.25 |
| Less Valve's 30% | $71,784 | $7.18 |
Plan with the net, not the sticker
The example's lesson is that "Steam takes 30%" is true and misleading at once. The 30% is the smallest deduction a developer controls the least, and the largest gaps come from the price players actually pay. A game that sells mostly at full price in high-income regions keeps closer to half of list; one that sells mostly at deep discounts in lower-priced regions keeps much less.
So when you estimate revenue, for a budget, a publisher pitch or a decision to keep going, start from a realistic average price paid. Our Steam revenue calculator takes copies, price, discounts, refunds and tax to net, and the guide to estimating sales from reviews gets you the copies for comparable games.
Keys sold elsewhere pay Valve nothing
Steamworks lets developers generate Steam keys for free and sell them on other stores, such as their own site, Humble or itch.io, and Valve takes no share of those sales. The store that sells the key takes its own cut instead. Valve's key rules ask for sensible use: keys are for selling or giving away the game, and a store that sells keys should not undercut what you charge on Steam or get a better deal than Steam players. Reviews from players who activated a key rather than buying on Steam do not count towards the review score, so keys do not help a game reach its first ten scored reviews.
How the other PC stores compare
A rough map of the main PC stores' standard shares, as of October 2026:
| Store | Store's share | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Steam | 30% / 25% / 20% | Tiers at $10 million and $50 million of lifetime revenue |
| Epic Games Store | 0%, then 12% | 0% on an app's first $1 million of revenue each year from June 2025, then 12% |
| itch.io | Developer chooses | Open revenue sharing; the default is 10% |
| GOG | 30% | Standard split, curated store |
What the 30% pays for, and where the comparison breaks
A lower share on paper is not more money. The 30% pays for the store most PC players already have open: payment processing in 37 currencies, refunds and fraud handling, downloads and patches, Steam Cloud saves, achievements, the Workshop, community hubs and reviews, wishlists that email players when you launch or discount, and the discovery queues and festivals where most indie games find their first players.
So the comparison that matters is not 30% against 12%; it is how many copies each store sells for your game. A store with a 0% share that sells a tenth of the copies pays less. Most indie developers launch on Steam first and add other stores where their players are, using Steam keys or each store's own build, and judge each one on its own sales rather than its rate.
When the money arrives
Valve pays monthly by bank transfer, about 30 days after the month of the sales: February's sales are paid at the end of March, if that month's revenue passed the $100 minimum; otherwise it rolls into the next month. Payments go by ACH to US banks and by USD SWIFT wire elsewhere. Any tax withheld depends on the tax questionnaire you completed during onboarding, and a treaty country's form can reduce US withholding. This is general information, not tax advice.
The $100 Steam Direct fee comes back in a later payment once the game has earned $1,000 in adjusted gross revenue; see our Steam Direct fee guide.
Where Flockbay fits
Flockbay takes no share of your sales and no rights to your game. It is a free AI game builder on the official Godot engine that also prepares the Steam page as a .zip you upload yourself, cuts trailers from your real gameplay, drafts posts and ads on your own accounts, builds a website for the game and runs playtests. The publishing tools are free in beta until 1 December 2026, and its Steam numbers, which read your followers and wishlists, are free on every account.
Questions
- What percentage does Steam take?
- 30% of a game's revenue up to $10 million, 25% from $10 million to $50 million, and 20% above $50 million.
- Is Steam's cut taken before or after VAT?
- After: sales taxes such as VAT, refunds and chargebacks come out first, and Valve's share is of the rest.
- How much does a developer earn per copy on Steam?
- Usually about a third of the list price, not 70%, once discounts, regional prices, sales taxes, refunds and the 30% share are counted. A $19.99 game with typical assumptions keeps about $7 per copy.
- Does Valve take a cut of Steam keys sold on other stores?
- No. Keys generated in Steamworks and sold elsewhere pay Valve nothing; the store that sells them takes its own share.