Is Steamworks SDK required for submitting a game to Steam Direct?

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I Love Misato Oct 19, 2019 @ 7:46am

Hi guys! I'm a little confused after reading the documentation about uploading games. This page partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk says that "The Steamworks SDK is only required to upload your content to Steam, everything else provided through the SDK is optional". On the other hand, this page https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/sdk/api says that "Integration with the Steamworks API is never required to ship your product on Steam". So, it seems that these two pages contradict each other. Or, maybe, "uploading a content to Steam" doesn't mean "uploading a game"?

So, may I submit a game without this SDK at all, or it will be declined?

Last edited by I Love Misato; Oct 19, 2019 @ 7:53am

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Showing 1-6 of 6 comments

wuddih Oct 19, 2019 @ 7:57am

nothing contradicts.
the sdk is a piece of software and you require it to upload your game. for windows there is a gui for it within the sdk files.
the sdk also provides other functions and that is optional.

MalikQayum Oct 19, 2019 @ 7:59am

you are confusing the upload process with the integration of the steamworks api. the sdk tool to upload your content to the partner site and that is all it does, there is no integration with the steamworks api happening here.
(if your game is less than 50mb you don't even need to use anything there is an upload zip folder on the build page.)

Last edited by MalikQayum; Oct 19, 2019 @ 8:01am

pivotman319 (Trans Rights FTW!) Oct 19, 2019 @ 10:04am

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steamworks/discussions

Low Story Dec 6, 2020 @ 5:19am

Originally posted by MalikQayum:
you are confusing the upload process with the integration of the steamworks api. the sdk tool to upload your content to the partner site and that is all it does, there is no integration with the steamworks api happening here.
(if your game is less than 50mb you don't even need to use anything there is an upload zip folder on the build page.)

Hello,
The maximum value appears on my board as "20488 MB" but you typed 50mb. So I'm a little confused. By the way, my game is 487 mb. Can I upload the game as zip file without all these SDK things?