![Valve regularly sent a developer a reminder for 7 years that he wasn’t making any money on Steam [MeinMMO Classic]](https://images.mein-mmo.de/medien/2022/11/steam-gaben-780x438.jpg){kind=small}
On Steam, there are countless games, from expensive AAA productions to small indie games from solo devs. For developers who offer their games on Steam, there are therefore various rules and conditions from Valve. One of these conditions means that a developer has been reminded for 7 years that he does not earn money with his game.
What is behind the reminder? An indie developer mentioned on Reddit that he received an email from Valve informing him that he would not receive a payout from Steam for August 2024. He had not reached the required minimum for a payout.
Another indie developer commented below the post, reporting that he has received the same email every month since 2017. He shared his screenshot via imgur.com, which shows the email correspondence with Valve and confirms his statement.
The special thing is: the developer does not expect any revenue from Steam at all. He has been offering his game since 2017 with a free-to-play model and has sold nothing on the platform since then. Therefore, the developer has been reminded every month for 7 years that he does not earn money with his F2P game.
Valve is currently also working on a new game. We present it to you in the video:
Minimum amount is intended to protect indie devs from costs
What is this about the minimum income? One condition for developers on Steam states that they must earn at least 100 US dollars before they can receive a payout. This is to prevent developers from incurring disadvantages due to any costs and bank fees, says Valve.
However, this does not mean that Steam simply withholds the developers’ earnings and enriches itself. Instead, the money is kept and collected until the developers reach the minimum. Valve says about this:
Due to the costs and potential bank fees associated with each individual payment we make, which are charged to you upon receipt of the payment, it would be disadvantageous for you if we were to pay out small amounts. Therefore, we may hold your payment until you have earned a minimum amount of 100 USD.
Valve via Steamworks
Steam also offers developers the opportunity to set a minimum amount themselves if bank fees take a large part of the payouts for sales on Steam.
The developer says he asked Valve several years ago to stop sending him emails and just keep the money or donate it to charity. However, they refused. The most recent email in the screenshot is from the morning of the day the capture was made, presumably from September 28, 2024.
Valve has not only various conditions regarding the payouts of revenues on Steam. There are also regulations regarding the design of the Steam page of a game.
One of these conditions states that a Steam page must have at least 5 screenshots showing the game. But ironically, Valve itself has not adhered to this rule with their latest game: Valve breaks its own rule on Steam for its new multiplayer game Deadlock
