Game Stores
Actively maintained storefronts open to direct self-publishing, built for selling games, with builds that can be uploaded and released through an automatable tool or API
Selection and Classification Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- Still actively operating and maintained
- Well-known and commonly used among players
- Open to self-publishing without requiring a middleman publisher
- Directly supports selling games to players
- Build uploads and publishing can be automated through a public CLI tool or API
PC Stores
itch.io
✨ FeaturedA fully open, curation-free self-publishing platform where creators set their own price and revenue split, including 0%; games are uploaded and updated with the official `butler` command-line tool.
Epic Games Store
Runs a flat 12% revenue cut with no publisher required to list a game, plus a developer portal and EOS-integrated tooling for build uploads and cloud saves.
Steam
✨ FeaturedThe dominant PC storefront, with direct self-publishing through Steamworks and the official `steamcmd`/SteamPipe tools for fully scripted, automated build uploads.
Gaming Console Stores
PlayStation Store (PS Store)
✨ FeaturedSelf-publish through Sony's registered PlayStation Partners program with no publisher required; build submission and certification go through Sony's partner tools under NDA rather than a public, open API.
Xbox (Xbox Store) (Microsoft Store)
Self-publish directly through the ID@Xbox program with no publisher required; builds and listings can be submitted programmatically through Microsoft's publicly documented Partner Center submission API.
Mobile Stores
F-Droid
A community-run, fully open-source Android app repository; a game's source is submitted as a merge request to the public F-Droid Data repo and built by F-Droid's own reproducible build servers rather than uploaded directly.
Google Play
✨ FeaturedAndroid's dominant storefront, open to any registered developer with no publisher required; builds, listings, and releases can be fully automated through the official Google Play Developer API.
App Store (Apple App Store)
✨ FeaturedThe sole iOS distribution channel, open to any registered Apple Developer Program member; builds and releases can be automated through the official App Store Connect API.
AppGallery (Huawei AppGallery)
Huawei's official storefront, open to self-registered developers and especially relevant where Google Play access is limited on Huawei devices; builds and releases are managed through the AppGallery Connect API.