What happens to reviews and wishlists when a Steam game changes hands

The first thing most developers ask when they think about handing a game to someone else, whether a buyer or a partner who keeps it going, is whether the game’s history goes with it. The reviews it earned, the wishlists, the people who bought it. On Steam, all of it stays with the game.

Valve documents this clearly, but for Steamworks partners, not for developers deciding whether to let go. Here is what its documentation says, in the order developers usually worry about it. We checked every point against Valve’s pages on September 11, 2026.

What stays with the game

At the moment of transfer, everything players see on the game’s own pages stays as it was. The store page, the community hub, the forums and the user reviews remain on the same app until the new owner chooses to edit them, and, in Valve’s words, “customer ownership is not interrupted or changed.”

Nobody who owns your game loses it or has to do anything.

Wishlists and followers are tied to the game, not to your account, so they go with it. The new owner also gets the full wishlist history, not just the wishlists from the transfer onward.

Sales, wishlist, follower and review data stay attached to the game too. What changes is who can see the reports, which is the next section.

You can select DLC to move in the same request as the base game.

What changes

Who gets paid. Each transfer has an effective date: the day payments start going to the new partner. It defaults to 7 days after the transfer is started.

Valve says you may want a date that matches your contract, and notes that the 1st of the current or following month can be convenient for accounting. It may refuse dates far in the future or earlier than the 1st of the current month.

Who runs the store page. Management rights move on the effective date, or immediately after Valve approves if approval comes later. From then on, the new owner can edit the store page and the publisher field, upload new assets and builds, and change the price.

Who can see the numbers. By default, each partner sees financial data only for the periods it was paid for, so the new owner starts from the effective date. The previous owner can give the new owner the full sales history; Valve points to application management sharing for that.

Your monthly payment reports stay yours either way. For UTM traffic data, the new owner can see from two weeks before the effective date onward, and the older history stays with you.

Keys and connected services. Publisher API keys do not transfer. If the game’s backend uses them, for in-game purchases or authentication for example, there is an order to follow.

When the recipient accepts the transfer, they tick “Share management rights” so the game stays in your web API groups. After Valve approves, they create new keys and switch the servers over. Then either of you ends the share.

Bundles and homepages. Management of any bundle the game is already in stays behind. If needed, take the game out of existing bundles first, or ask the bundle’s creator to make it collaborative. Valve support can also remove a transferred game from a bundle afterward.

The game comes off every developer and publisher homepage it is listed on as soon as the transfer is started, before Valve approves anything, so don’t start until you are ready.

Discounts. The discount cool-down carries on as normal. A transfer does not reset it.

How long it takes

Step	Who	What happens
Start	The current owner	Enters the recipient’s email, picks an effective date and gives Valve a reason for the transfer.
Accept	The recipient	Accepts in the Transfer Applications tool in Steamworks, ticking “Share management rights” if the game uses publisher API keys.
Confirm	The current owner	Confirms from an email link.
Review	Valve	Reviews the request, usually within 2 to 7 business days of both sides confirming, and emails if it has questions about the reason.
Hand over	Steamworks	Management moves on the effective date, or right after Valve approves if that is later. Payments start from the effective date.

Both people starting and accepting need Actual Authority permission on their Steamworks partner accounts. The recipient’s account must be complete, verified and fully onboarded.

If they don’t have one, they sign up through Steam Direct, which means signing the paperwork, providing bank and tax details, verifying their identity, and paying the Steam Direct fee. That fee is $100, non-refundable, and recoupable under Valve’s terms.

If the recipient already has a fully onboarded account, the only wait you can’t control is Valve’s review. The rest is two people answering emails.

What to settle before you start

A Steam transfer moves the listing and the money. It does not decide anything else between you and the person taking the game on. Settle these first.

1. Everyone who owns part of the game agrees. If you made it with other people, get their agreement in writing before anyone opens the transfer tool.
2. The agreement itself. The code, the art, the right to make more of the game, your credit and any share of future revenue all live in your contract, not in Steamworks.
3. The effective date. Match it to your contract. Valve notes the 1st of a month can be convenient for accounting.
4. Connected services. If the game talks to a server using publisher API keys, agree who ticks “Share management rights”, who makes the new keys after approval, and when the share ends.
5. Bundles. If needed, take the game out of them, or ask their creators to make them collaborative.
6. Sales history. Arrange the new owner’s access to it as part of the transfer. Whoever runs the game next makes better decisions with it, and if you keep a share of the revenue, their decisions are your income.

You don’t have to transfer at all

Steamworks has a second tool, application management sharing, that works differently. It gives another Steamworks partner full access to upload builds and edit the store page, and, if you choose, to see the financial data. It changes nothing about who gets paid, and you don’t need Valve’s approval.

Valve’s sharing page says only the app’s owner can revoke it. The partner gets the same full access you have, so share only with someone you trust.

There is one catch that matters more than it looks. On a shared app, only the partner with payment rights can set prices or add discounts. Price and discounts are a big part of how a Steam game earns, and on Steam they go with the money.

There is also a middle path. Valve’s transfer page describes sharing management rights before the effective date, and sharing the game back to the previous owner once it has moved. So a transfer does not have to mean losing access.

So the choice comes down to who should be paid. If you are selling a game outright, you transfer it. If you are bringing in a partner and staying the payee, sharing may be all you need, as long as your partner accepts that you enter every price and discount.

If you are still looking for that partner, here is who takes on games that are already out.

Either way, the game’s history is safe. The decisions that matter are who gets paid, who controls the price, and what your agreement says happens next.