Choosing where to release your indie game isn't just about picking the store with the lowest cut. Each platform -- Steam, GOG, and itch.io -- serves a fundamentally different audience, offers different tools, and works best for different types of games and developers. I've watched developers lose months agonizing over this decision, and I've watched others leave money on the table by dismissing platforms they should have been on from day one.
This guide covers the real trade-offs so you can make a decision based on data, not vibes.
The revenue share breakdown
Let's start with the numbers everyone asks about first.
Steam
- •First $10 million in revenue: Steam takes 30%, you keep 70%
- •$10 million to $50 million: Steam takes 25%, you keep 75%
- •Above $50 million: Steam takes 20%, you keep 80%
For practical purposes, nearly every indie game pays the 30% rate. The tiers only matter if your game is a breakout hit. Our Steam revenue share breakdown covers the full math, including regional pricing and refund impacts.
GOG
- •GOG takes 30% as their standard cut, with some variation based on individual agreements
- •Larger titles or titles with strong catalog value may negotiate better terms
- •GOG Connect and other promotional programs don't change the base split
itch.io
- •The developer sets the split -- you choose what percentage goes to itch.io, including 0%
- •The default suggestion is 10%, but many developers set it to 0% and change it later as a show of goodwill
- •You can change the split at any time
On a per-unit basis, itch.io is the most generous by a wide margin. You can literally keep 100% of every sale. But revenue share is only one variable, and it's not the most important one. A 100% share of very few sales still adds up to very little.
Audience size and buyer behavior
This is where the conversation gets real.
Steam: 130+ million monthly active users. These are people who open Steam to browse, buy, and play games. Steam has over two decades of habitual purchase behavior. When someone gets a $50 Steam gift card, they go shopping. When someone hears about an indie game on Reddit or YouTube, they search for it on Steam first. The indie game revenue data shows that even modest indie titles on Steam can generate meaningful revenue if the store page converts.
GOG: roughly 20-25 million registered users. GOG's audience is smaller but deeply committed. These are players who specifically seek out DRM-free games, who care about game preservation, and who tend to skew toward classic genres -- RPGs, strategy games, simulation, adventure games, and retro-inspired titles. GOG buyers are often willing to pay full price because they're ideologically committed to supporting the DRM-free model. The per-user purchase intent is high, but the total addressable market is a fraction of Steam's.
itch.io: estimated 10-15 million registered accounts. The active buyer base is substantially smaller than that number suggests. Many itch.io users are there for free games, game jams, and experimental projects. The platform has a strong community of indie creators and players who specifically want to support small developers, but the audience for commercial releases at $15-$25 price points is limited. Where itch.io excels is in the under-$10 space and for niche or experimental work.
In practice, most developers who release on all three platforms report that Steam generates 80-95% of their total revenue. GOG contributes 3-12%, and itch.io contributes 1-5%. These ratios shift if your game specifically appeals to GOG's audience (a retro CRPG, for instance, will do proportionally better on GOG), but the general pattern is consistent.
Discoverability and organic traffic
How do players find your game if you aren't spending money on ads?
Steam's discovery machine
Steam has the most sophisticated discovery infrastructure of any game storefront. The Discovery Queue, tag-based recommendations, "More Like This" sections, user reviews, curators, and search ranking all work together to surface games to interested players without the developer lifting a finger. Our deep dive into Steam's algorithm explains how these systems decide which games get shown.
Steam also runs regular events -- Next Fest, seasonal sales, genre festivals -- that drive massive traffic spikes. If you participate, you get access to audiences you could never reach on your own.
The bottom line: a well-optimized Steam store page generates organic traffic. Not magic-level traffic, but enough to sustain a viable indie game if your page converts well.
GOG's editorial curation
GOG takes a more curated approach. Not every game gets accepted onto GOG (more on that below), and the storefront features far fewer titles than Steam. This means less competition for attention, but it also means GOG relies more on editorial placements, themed sales, and their weekly deals to surface games.
If GOG features your game on their front page, the spotlight is less diluted than on Steam because there are simply fewer games competing. But if you aren't featured, organic discovery is limited. GOG's search and browse tools are functional but don't match Steam's recommendation engine. There's no equivalent of the Discovery Queue quietly pushing your game to thousands of potentially interested players.
itch.io's community-driven discovery
itch.io's discovery works differently from both Steam and GOG. The platform relies heavily on tags, collections, game jams, and editorial picks. The "Popular" and "New & Popular" pages drive some browse traffic, but the volumes are orders of magnitude smaller than Steam.
Where itch.io discovery actually works well is through game jams. If you build a game for a popular jam (or release a polished version of a jam game), the jam's page becomes a powerful discovery channel. The GMTK Game Jam, Ludum Dare post-jam pages on itch, and other major events can drive thousands of page views.
itch.io also benefits from being the default platform that gaming press and content creators link to for small, experimental, and free games. If a YouTube creator covers your weird little narrative experiment, they're linking to itch.io, not Steam.
DRM policies
DRM is a philosophical and practical dividing line between these platforms.
Steam: Uses Steamworks DRM by default, though developers can choose not to implement it. Most games on Steam use some form of DRM, even if it's just the Steam client requirement. Some players resent this; most don't care or even notice.
GOG: Entirely DRM-free, always. This is GOG's core identity. Every game sold on GOG can be downloaded, backed up, and run without any client software or internet connection. For a subset of players, this is a dealbreaker in GOG's favor. GOG's audience often pays full price specifically to own the DRM-free version.
itch.io: DRM-free by default. Games are downloadable files with no client requirement (though the itch desktop app exists for convenience). Like GOG, this appeals to players who value ownership, but itch.io's audience tends to care more about supporting indie creators than about DRM politics specifically.
If your game is DRM-free and you aren't on GOG, you're missing the audience that would pay the most for that feature. It's that simple.
Curation and publishing requirements
How hard is it to actually get your game on each platform?
Steam: Pay the $100 Steamworks fee, complete the paperwork, and you can publish essentially anything that isn't illegal or blatantly fraudulent. There's no quality gate. This is both Steam's strength (low barrier to entry) and its weakness (enormous competition from low-effort releases). Our guide on how to publish a game on Steam walks through the full process.
GOG: GOG reviews every submission. They accept a relatively small percentage of indie games -- rejection rates are high, and the criteria aren't fully transparent. Generally, GOG looks for games with strong production values, games that fit their audience's preferences (RPGs, strategy, adventure), and games with some existing buzz or press coverage. Getting accepted isn't guaranteed, and many solid indie games have been turned down. If your game is accepted, the curation itself becomes a quality signal to buyers.
itch.io: No curation whatsoever. Create an account, upload your game, set a price (or make it free), and you're live. The entire process takes minutes. This makes itch.io the easiest platform to publish on by a wide margin, which is why it's the default home for game jam entries, prototypes, and experimental work.
Community features and developer tools
Steam
Steam offers the deepest toolkit: achievements, trading cards, cloud saves, Workshop modding support, forums, user reviews, Remote Play, Steam Input, detailed analytics, and the Playtest feature for running betas. The Steamworks API is well-documented and battle-tested. These tools aren't just convenient -- Workshop support can extend your game's lifespan dramatically, and the analytics dashboard gives you actionable data on traffic sources, conversion rates, and wishlist behavior.
GOG
GOG Galaxy provides achievements, cloud saves, cross-play with Steam friends, and a unified game library. The toolkit is less comprehensive than Steamworks, but it covers the essentials. GOG doesn't have Workshop-style modding support or trading cards. Community features are lighter -- GOG forums exist but are less active than Steam's for most games.
itch.io
itch.io's developer tools are minimal but effective for what the platform does best. You get a customizable game page (with HTML/CSS control), community comments, devlogs, and basic analytics. There's no achievement system, no cloud saves, and no modding infrastructure. What itch.io does offer is exceptional flexibility in how you present and distribute your game -- bundles, pay-what-you-want, physical rewards, and direct relationships with buyers.
Marketing tools and sales events
Steam runs seasonal sales (Summer, Winter, Autumn, Spring), Next Fest, genre festivals, and promotional slots like Daily Deals. These events drive enormous traffic. Participating effectively is one of the most important things you can do as an indie developer on Steam. Our Steam pricing strategy guide covers how to plan your discount strategy around these events.
GOG runs themed sales, weekly deals, and seasonal events. The traffic is smaller than Steam's but the conversion rates can be solid because GOG buyers are more intentional. GOG also has a "Coming Soon" wishlist system that notifies users at launch.
itch.io runs community sales and bundles (the famous Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality showed the platform's potential for bundle-driven exposure). Individual developers can run their own sales at any time. The traffic during itch.io's platform-wide events is modest compared to Steam, but the community engagement is genuine.
Multi-platform strategy: the smart approach
For most indie developers, the answer isn't "pick one." It's "prioritize correctly."
Steam first, always. This is where the largest audience lives, where the discovery tools work best, and where your marketing efforts produce the highest return. Set up your Coming Soon page months before launch, build wishlists, participate in Next Fest, and optimize your store page with the Steam Page Analyzer.
GOG if your game fits. Submit to GOG once your game is polished enough to pass their review. If accepted, a simultaneous launch with Steam is ideal. DRM-free RPGs, strategy games, simulation, and retro-styled games tend to perform best on GOG relative to Steam. Don't expect GOG revenue to match Steam, but it's meaningful supplementary income from an audience that genuinely values what GOG offers.
itch.io for specific use cases. Release a demo or prototype on itch.io early in development to build community and get feedback. Use it for game jam entries that you later polish into commercial releases. Offer a DRM-free version for buyers who want to support you directly. If your game is experimental, narrative-focused, or priced under $10, itch.io's audience is more receptive than Steam's to those categories.
Don't split your marketing attention. Focus your launch campaign, influencer outreach, and community building on Steam. Let GOG and itch.io sales come as supplementary revenue without diverting your limited marketing bandwidth.
When each platform makes the most sense
Choose Steam as your primary platform when: You're building a commercial game at any price point, you want access to the largest possible audience, you need robust developer tools and analytics, and you want to leverage events like Next Fest for visibility. This is essentially every commercial indie release.
Lean into GOG when: Your game is DRM-free and you want to reach the audience that values that, your game fits GOG's core genres (RPG, strategy, adventure, simulation), you've been accepted through their curation process, and you want to reach an audience willing to pay full price.
Prioritize itch.io when: You're releasing a free or pay-what-you-want game, you're launching from a game jam, your game is experimental or non-commercial, you want to offer a direct-purchase option with minimal overhead, or you're building an audience before your game is ready for Steam.
Frequently asked questions
How much revenue should I expect from GOG relative to Steam?
Most indie developers report GOG revenue at 3-12% of their Steam revenue for the same title. Games that strongly match GOG's audience (DRM-free RPGs, retro-styled adventures, complex strategy games) tend to land at the higher end. Use the Revenue Calculator to model these scenarios with your own numbers.
Can I release on itch.io first and then move to Steam later?
Yes, and many successful indie games have done exactly this. Releasing on itch.io first lets you build a community, gather feedback, and refine your game before the higher-stakes Steam launch. Just make sure your itch.io audience knows about the Steam launch -- many will rebuy or wishlist to support you.
Does releasing on multiple platforms hurt my Steam launch?
No, as long as you don't split your marketing focus. A simultaneous launch on Steam and GOG doesn't cannibalize Steam sales because the audiences barely overlap. The GOG audience is buying there specifically because they want DRM-free. What would hurt is diverting your launch marketing away from Steam to promote your GOG or itch.io listings.
Is GOG worth the effort if my game gets rejected initially?
You can resubmit after making improvements or after generating more buzz. Some developers report success resubmitting after getting press coverage, building a demo following through Next Fest, or reaching a certain wishlist threshold on Steam. The curation can work in your favor -- being on GOG signals quality to buyers.
Should I set itch.io's revenue share to 0%?
That's your call. Many developers set it to 0% during launch and increase it later. Others set 10% or higher as a way to support the platform that gave them their start. There's no wrong answer. The itch.io team has been explicit that they want developers to choose what feels right, and they don't penalize or deprioritize games that set a low share.
Ready to optimize your primary storefront? Run your game through the Steam Page Analyzer for a detailed breakdown of your capsule performance, tag strategy, and conversion signals. Model your cross-platform revenue with the Revenue Calculator to see how Steam, GOG, and itch.io revenue stacks up for your specific price point and projected volumes.
For deeper strategy, read our Steam optimization guide, indie game revenue benchmarks, and Steam pricing strategy guide. Browse our genre-specific optimization guides to find tactics tailored to your game type.