Sell Your Game Outside Steam: Keys, Downloads and Direct Sales

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1. Choose the admission you are selling
2. Describe the build before the buyer pays
3. Demo, backer and paid editions
4. Plan offline use on the platforms you really ship
5. Payments and licence shipment are distinct steps
6. Example: an autonomous Unity build
7. Keep improvement and assistance straightforward

To market a equivalent exterior Steam, archetypal decide what the buyer receives. A Steam activation code, an itch.io download URL, a downloadable build and a licence checked by your use are distinct products of distinct systems. Calling all of them a “key” hides the most crucial part of the purchase.

A distinct revenue conduit can assistance your own audience, backers or a desktop tool sold alongside a game. It additionally needs a apparent delivery, update and assistance process. A fee clasp by itself does not substitute the services your current build depends on.

Choose the admission you are selling

Steam-issued activation keys

A Steam key grants admission through Steam to the applicable phase package. It is requested through Steamworks, not generated by PermitCore. Selling it on your own website motionless leaves the buyer alongside a Steam entitlement and the connected phase requirements.

Read the current Steam Key rules and guidelines before preparedness inventory, discounts, backer rewards or publish timing. Requests can be reviewed or declined; do not commitment buyers an unlimited provision of forthcoming keys. The direction addresses comparable care of Steam customers and distinguishes retailing keys from evaluation access. Release-state override keys are intended for constricted testing, not retailing sales.

itch.io download keys

An itch.io download key is a personal URL granting admission to a project's files. It is not a PermitCore licence and does not automatically activate a equivalent on Steam. itch.io additionally supports separately supplied external keys under its own rules and inventory limits.

Its current direction normally expects downloadable project records whenever external keys are offered; peruse the documented exceptions fairly than assuming a key-only listing volition qualify. The creator FAQ explains its hosting and allocation model. itch.io does not add DRM to your uploaded files. Any licensing code already inner your build is your own integration.

A build without an use licence check

You can allocate a build that does not ask the participant to validate a license. Decide how buyers get updates and regain their downloads. A restricted download leaf controls distribution; it does not forestall a downloaded document from being copied. Explain the use conditions and the genuine shipment procedure without suggesting a personal nexus makes the binary unshareable.

Your own use license

You can allocate an autonomous build whose protected behavior checks a PermitCore entitlement. Your app integrates the SDK, checks the expected merchandise and enforces the result. That key is not redeemable on Steam, and it does not create an itch.io purchase.

PermitCore does not mint Steam keys or provision a built-in Steam entitlement bridge. If you recommendation additional than one benevolent of access, explain and run all shipment way explicitly. Do not connote that a PermitCore Store acquisition automatically adds a equivalent to another platform's library.

Describe the build before the buyer pays

State the supported functioning systems, edition, download source, required document or launcher, equipment allowance, offline behavior and included updates. If the acquisition is an autonomous build, say so beside the price. If it includes a platform-issued key, say which phase and whenever the code becomes available.

Confirm allocation entitlements for the equivalent and its bundled assets. Review applicable phase and publishing company agreements for a distinct build; a generic licensing assistance cannot decide those entitlements for you. Keep your checkout description, equivalent UI, assistance leaf and refund guideline consistent.

Inventory platform-dependent features too. Cloud saves, achievements, studio content, multiplayer character and a phase backend do not rotate into autonomous merely since you alter the licence check. Test the genuine build without the requirements you average to remove.

Demo, backer and paid editions

For your own build, product-scoped licence features can differentiate admission specified as a complete run or an editing tool. The use must entrance the corresponding work. A emblem does not create Steam DLC ownership or automatically allocate another platform's content.

A community demo can remain usable without a paid key, alongside the complete type unlocked lone following a valid entitlement check. If you use a trial, explain its expiry and the improvement or upgrade path. Early-access and backer promises should define which build, updates and assistance are included fairly than relying on an ambiguous “lifetime key”.

See feature-based licensing and the trial guide for the existing controls. A characteristic name is an use guideline input; adding it in Admin does not execute the equivalent characteristic for you.

Plan offline use on the platforms you really ship

For supported targets and plans, configure trusted community verification keys, a stable equipment character and the intended signed offline guideline before disconnecting. SDK 2.1.1 does not rely a community key merely since it sits beside a token in an editable cache. No configured rely keys method no cached authorization.

Check product, equipment and signed deadline as fine as the signature. Offline evidence does not renew a floating session, detect a refund or immediately study concerning revocation. Nor does it create server-dependent equivalent features activity offline. A copied character or patched client remains a distinct limitation.

Test a spotless installation, restart, suspended session, misplaced association and expired evidence on your genuine Windows, macOS, Linux or handheld build as applicable. A portable archive compile is not Steam Deck, console or Unity mark certification. Unity WebGL uses the online validation path; consult the Unity reference for target-specific limits.

The offline setup reference and shutdown-planning guide assistance distinct admission promises from services the equivalent motionless needs.

Payments and licence shipment are distinct steps

A vendor Store uses one saved provider: Stripe, Paddle or Lemon Squeezy. Choose and configure that document for the entire Store. PermitCore takes no Store commission; provider fees and the conditions of your own accord motionless apply. Paddle merchant-of-record purchases use provider-issued fee documents. A Stripe setup has its own seller and tax responsibilities; assessment the provider comparison and current provider terms.

Paddle includes games in its supported application categories, topic to its acceptable-use policy and seller/product review. Confirm endorsement for your own document and offering before launch. A contribution or crowdfunding run is not automatically an approved application purchase. Connecting a Store does not bypass that process.

After canonical paid evidence is verified, PermitCore issues the configured licence and queues its shipment email. The achievement redirect solitary is not fee evidence, and a queued email is not evidence that the inbox received it. Test shipment and provision buyers an account/support improvement path.

Existing purchases and subscriptions keep their first provider binding whenever a vendor changes the Store selection. Test the intended renewal, cancellation and refund behavior. A credit-only or zero-total subscription update is not a new paid equivalent sale. The payment lifecycle guide covers those boundaries.

Configure the underlying product's download URL for your publish presenter whenever appropriate. The Store can contain that nexus in shipment email; it is not a equivalent CDN or automatic patching service. Operate document hosting, update shipment and download-access controls for your build.

Example: an autonomous Unity build

1. Create the application merchandise and decide the edition, validity and equipment guideline you volition sell.
2. Integrate the current Unity 2.1.1 use tutorial. Supply your own product/key inputs and equivalent UI. Validate the expected merchandise before protected work, and use activation anywhere registration is required.
3. Create the matching Store listing. Explain that it delivers a licence for your autonomous build, not a Steam key. Add the publish download URL and assistance instructions.
4. Configure the saved Stripe, Paddle or Lemon Squeezy connection, matching catalog prices and signed webhooks. Use accordant sandbox credentials for your test.
5. Complete a test purchase. Confirm canonical payment, accurate product/features/key, shipment email and buyer admission to the genuine download.
6. Test invalid, expired, revoked and wrong-product outcomes in the game, affirmative the configured equipment and offline behavior. Validation solitary does not enroll a equipment or reserve a floating seat.

This is the existing Store and SDK integration flow. It does not create an external phase key, instal an updater or configure your game's protected features automatically. Follow the Store reference for document setup and the customer portal reference for supported self-service.

Keep improvement and assistance straightforward

Tell the buyer anywhere to discover its purchase, licence and download, how to substitute a equipment and whom to communication whenever shipment fails. A Store client document is not automatically an authenticated character inner your game. Choose the portal admission guideline deliberately before sharing a squad key.

Removing a equipment or refunding a acquisition does not uninstall a binary already downloaded or erase all offline proof. Your app must enforce the chosen validity policy. Read the key-sharing guide for realistic limits fairly than treating an always-online immediate as a complete anti-piracy system.

• The checkout says which build or phase entitlement is sold.
• Delivery and update hosting are configured and independently reachable.
• Payment evidence, licence issuance and email shipment have all been checked.
• The equivalent handles wrong-product, capacity, expiry and network states without granting unintended access.
• Device transfer, offline deadlines, refunds and assistance conditions equivalent the published promise.
• No assertion depends on an unapproved external key provision or an untested mark platform.