Slava Gris, an independent developer and author of such games as Fearmonium and Catmaze, gave a talk during the first session of the "Gaming Industry" conference. Based on personal experience, he provided a detailed explanation of how to work with Steam from Russia under current conditions.
Slava Gris at the "Gaming Industry" conference
Can You Create a Developer Account on Steam While in Russia?
There are still many misconceptions in the community about the interactions between Russian developers and Valve. One of them is the impossibility of registering accounts and withdrawing money. As Gris notes, this is far from the truth.
Anyone can become a partner on the platform by registering on the Steamworks website. The main points to remember are:
- It's better to create a separate account, not linked to a personal profile;
- Enter the data from your international passport (an internal Russian passport will also do, but it might slow down certain processes);
- Do not use pseudonyms – the name and surname in the developer account must match the documents you will use to work with Valve.
The only obstacle is paying for Steam Direct from Russia. This is a $100 fee that grants the right to publish your products on Steam and is paid separately for each game. Valve reimburses this amount once the gross revenue of the game (before deduction of commissions and taxes) reaches $1000.
The main difficulty lies in the fact that Steam Direct cannot be paid from your Steam wallet. A Visa or MasterCard is required, which have not been operational in Russia since March 2022.
How to Pay for Steam Direct from Russia?
According to Gris, there are three workarounds:
- If you were a Steam partner before 2022, you can use the "Application Transfer" function – for this, you will need a foreign developer with a Steamworks account who will pay for Steam Direct with their card and transfer the rights to a user in Russia. Gris notes that this method is legal and does not violate platform rules.
- Invite a foreign user into your company within Steam and give them permission to carry out specific financial operations, including paying for Steam Direct. Valve allows you to finely tune the level of access to data and its visibility for participants, so you don't need to worry about the invited person being able to control your developer account.
An example of the message a user will receive to join the organization
- If you are a regular user, you need to change your account region and make the payment from a foreign card (remember – Steam Direct cannot be paid from the wallet, a card is required). VPN, a person from another country with a Visa/MasterCard, or remote access applications like AnyDesk will be helpful here. Changing the region does not violate platform rules. The only caveat: Steam support responded to Gris that they "are not sure" if changing the country will cause any unforeseen problems in the future.
Important: Being a tax resident of Russia, you must provide your own data and link your personal phone number to work with Valve during registration.
At the final stage of registration, you will need to fill out the W-8BEN form to confirm that you are not a US tax resident. After that, the developer will receive a letter from the US tax authorities. For those with an international passport, the process takes a few days, while with only an internal passport, it may take several weeks.
Gris advises paying close attention to this to avoid additional taxes from the US. When the form is correctly filled out, the user will receive information from Steam that the withholding tax rate is 0%. If another number (likely 30%) appears in this field, it means there was an error, and the application needs to be resubmitted.
How to Receive Payments from Steam?
Valve conducts all transactions through the SWIFT system. According to Gris, in 2024, there are several Russian banks that allow working with Steam. Among them are:
- Chelyabinvestbank – accepts SWIFT transfers from Valve when opening a dollar account for individual entrepreneurs (you must visit the branch personally);
- Moskommerzbank – also requires a personal visit, but while storing funds in foreign currency, $100 will be charged daily (recently, there have been other difficulties, making this bank not the most convenient option for developers);
- T-Bank – receives payments through intermediaries with a high commission.
Another popular option is to open an account in one of the neighboring countries. Receiving transfers to a foreign bank card while paying taxes in Russia is legal. However, you must notify the tax authorities within 30 days from the day the foreign account is opened. Otherwise, you face a fine of 4000 rubles for each such account.
Transferring money from foreign accounts to Russian ones is quite straightforward. Ruble SWIFT transfers are still operational but are charged. Developers with a small volume of sales might find third-party money transfer services suitable.
Also, remember that you can work with Steam even before opening an account. In this case, the money from the game sales will simply accumulate on your account. And don't worry if the account region in Steam (e.g., Turkey), tax information (Russia), and the account (Kazakhstan) don't match – it doesn't matter and does not violate any rules. The main thing to remember is that the account for withdrawing funds must be registered in the name provided when creating the Steam partner account.
Slava Gris often discusses this and many other topics related to indie development on his YouTube channel RedBlack Spade.