Finishing a game is a hard feat- but figuring out where
to publish it can be even harder.
There are 2 lists- PC and HTML. Note that some of these overlap- you can upload mobile and HTML to Itch.io, but I'm only going into detail on it in the PC list.
PC List
1. Steam
- Largest gaming platform with the largest userbase
Cons:
- Largest gaming platform with the largest selection of competing games
- $100 fee per game uploaded
- Lots of information to fill out with multiple review processes
- Somewhat difficult uploading process for new devs (and lackluster documentation)
38% of all Steam games were released in 2016 pic.twitter.com/JiX2pt6JhB
— Steam Spy (@Steam_Spy) November 30, 2016
2. Itch.io
- Free to use
- Easy upload process with no review processes
- A good launch can secure a high place on the search places for a longer time
Cons:
- No review process means there are tons of shovelware and multiple reuploads on the site
- Not many users on the site so don't expect 50+ downloads on launch unless you market it
3. Game Jolt
- Free to use
- Easy upload process with no review processes
- Fans can follow individual game pages as well as your developer account
Cons:
- Easy to not get many views on the site with one game but a healthy amount on another
- The consumer base is still heavily HTML gaming
4. Kartridge
- Free to use
- Easy upload process with no review processes*
- Not many games on the site so little competition
Cons:
- No analytics whatsoever that I can find**
- Despite Kongregate still having a decent sized consumer base, very few of them transferred over to Kartridge
* Despite games being able to launch without a review process, the staff will go back and check games afterwards and then decide if they belong on the store. For instance, my kinetic (no choices) visual novel The Witch in the Forest was on the store for about 12 hours until I got an email saying it didn't meet their gameplay standards and was manually taken down.
** I've searched and searched and searched and even emailed the staff about analytics, with them basically saying "they'll work on it" (as of January 2019). There's no way to tell downloads on free games, no way to even tell how many views your games have. I believe this could be an oversight but the non-inclusion of them after launch is, as I believe, due to the low user counts that they don't want to publish.
5. Epic Games Store
- Not many games on the site so little competition
Cons:
- Stigma against the platform due to exclusives, Tencent, and more
- Seemingly exclusive beta only for extremely polished indie games
6. Discord Store
- Not many games on the site so little competition
Cons:
- $25 fee per game
- No actually store front for every game, only individualized store fronts in various servers
7. IndieDB
- Easy to set up a page
- Brings in some viewers on its own
- Makes a press kit for you
Cons:
- Not meant to be a gaming platform, more of a database for indie games (hence the name)
8. Good Old Games (GoG)
- Very short initial submission process
Cons:
- Very high "quality" standards- anything that looks indie or doesn't have a big studio backing it up won't be on there 99% of the time
HTML List
1. Itch.io
2. Newgrounds
- Free to use
- Very easy submission process
Cons:
- Not a lot of analytics to look at
3. Kongregate
- Free to use
- Easy submission process
Cons:
- Not a lot of analytics to look at- same developers as Kartridge
4. Armor Games
- Free to use
- Easy submission process
Cons:
- Hardly any analytics to look at