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danielemarottadeveloper avatar image
danielemarottadeveloper asked

Using PayPal for IAP in Steam game

Hello,

since getting access to steamworks seems rather complicated I was considering using another method to allow users to purchase virtual currency with real money. For example PayPal (or anything else that is popular enough).

Do you know whether this would somehow be a blocker when submitting the game to steam greenlight later on?

And also, assuming we get an App Id and API key, do you support steam transactions through web browser? I think that, unless your game is greenlit and you start selling it, you can't launch the app from the steam client so you can't have the in-game overlay popup. I read in streamworks docs (microtransactions API) that you can have steam reply with an url pointing to a steam webpage where the user can pay with his steam wallet.

I'm sorry but this is all very confusing for me...

Thank you very much

In-Game Economy
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danielemarottadeveloper avatar image danielemarottadeveloper commented ·

I figured we can launch the game through steam client so the overlay is not an issue. The problem with the steam publisher api key remains though

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brendan avatar image
brendan answered

Pretty much all the major platforms have policies around making sure that apps/games don't bypass their purchasing system or, if they do, that the platform provider is still getting their cut of the payment. Since Steam's public statement about their policies on this will be sent to developers once their titles are approved in Greenlight, that means that the details are NDA'd, so we really can't discuss them here. That said, they're very clear in their FAQ (https://steamcommunity.com/greenlight/faq/) that they do not require exclusivity. So if you have a version of your game already available, that should not impact your ability to get Greenlight. However, you should review the business terms carefully once you get that approval, to see what (if any) changes you need to make to your existing version, in order to have your title offered in Steam while still be compliant with the terms of that agreement.

For the actual purchase interface, yes, the most common use case is to just use the Steam client overlay. That's specifically what is triggered when you call PayForPurchase with Steam as the payment provider in our StartPurchase flow.

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