If you’re a game developer who markets your PC game on YouTube in 2016 (which…likely is all of you) you’ve probably wished for a way to quickly transfer players from YouTube videos about your game to the Steam storefront.
Well, now you can. YouTube has updated its list of approved merchandise sites to include Steam, meaning developers and YouTubers can add merch annotations and YouTube cards that overlay on videos and link directly to a game’s storefront.
This is the only digital games storefront that YouTube has approved to date, meaning developers on Gog or itch.io will still be waiting for permission to make similar links.
But for developers looking to market their game on Steam, it’s a helpful move from YouTube.