Common questions

Anyone 18 or older who lives in any US state can sign up with Steam. You agree at sign-up to have your screen and voice recorded in each session. To be invited, your Steam account needs to be at least 6 months old, with 5 or more hours played and no VAC, game or trade bans. One Steam account per person. You also need a microphone, because every session is recorded.

All the time. Studios book tests when their demos are ready, and we invite players whose Steam libraries fit. When there's one for you, we email you the invitation.

Your account stays open. We invite players to match each demo's genre, so it isn't a judgment of you.

About an hour: at least 30 minutes of play while recording, a 10-minute survey, and a one-time recorder setup of 10 to 15 minutes. A Deep Dive asks for 60 minutes of play.

Each accepted session adds its pay to your balance: $8 for a 30-minute session, $15 for a 60-minute one. Once your balance is $5 or more, turn it into a gift card on Your tests and earnings. Gift cards are sent by Tremendous, which emails you a link to choose one.

Pay for sessions, including gift cards, is income, and you're responsible for your own taxes. We may ask for a W-9 before larger payouts, and we send a 1099 when the law requires it.

A cash-out waits 2 days before it's sent. One of $100 or more waits 7 days, and so does a first cash-out made before any of your recorded sessions has been accepted. The hold gives us time to catch fraud before money leaves. Then the gift card link arrives by email from Tremendous.

After you agree to it, we read your public Steam profile and the games you've played, with hours. We use it to check you're eligible and to match you with demos in genres you play. Developers never see your library, name or Steam ID. The privacy policy lists exactly what we keep.

Your Steam Game details need to be set to Public so we can match you and your playtime counts. You can hide individual games you'd rather keep private.

Yes. Every session is recorded: your screen and your voice while you think out loud. No webcam. You upload the recording before the survey. We make a transcript of it, and the developer's report includes a summary of what players said. The developer watches the recording in their browser and reads the transcript; they can't download them. The video and the transcript are deleted 90 days after you upload. The developer will see your screen and hear your voice, so close anything personal, don't say your name, and make sure no one else can be heard.

No. Before you get the key or demo link, you agree to keep that test confidential: don't share the key or build, stream it, or post screenshots, clips or details anywhere. The recording you upload to us is the only exception.

We accept a session when the recording shows the demo being played and Steam playtime or the gameplay questions back it up. Your Steam playtime in the demo shows how long you played. For a private Playtest, the developer's own Steamworks access tells us whether you activated your key and how long you played. The survey also asks a few questions about the game that only someone who played would know. Every survey is checked for effort, and some sessions are reviewed by a person.

We email you the reason. The usual ones: the recording was missing or didn't show the demo being played for long enough, or the answers were too short, copied, or generated. If you think we got it wrong, reply to that email. A person reads every reply.

We never pay or reward you to wishlist, follow or review a game: Steam's rules forbid it, and it would make the feedback worthless. We never show developers who you are. They hear your voice in the recording, but never get your name, email, Steam ID, profile or library. We never ask you to show your face, because recordings are your screen and your voice only. We never ask for your Steam password; signing in happens on Steam's own page. And we never ask you to buy anything: demos are free to you, as a Steam key for your account or a free public demo.

Indie Jury is run by CommandVA LLC in Minnesota. Write to hello@indiejury.com with anything.

Yes, from your account page. You can also download a copy of your data there.

Players whose Steam libraries show hours in the games you name as comparable, weighted by Steam's genre tags. Each has passed the same eligibility checks.

A demo that's already public on Steam (its store link is enough), or Steam Playtest keys plus a Steamworks Web API key for a permission group that holds only your game. Then three questions about your game. A fact sheet about the game is optional. How a test works

Only for private Playtest keys; a public demo doesn't need one. Steam lists the apps the key controls, which shows the game is yours. During the test it tells us whether each invited player activated their key and how long they played. It's stored encrypted and you can remove it from your studio page.

You see their recordings, transcripts, answers and playtime, but not their names, emails, Steam IDs or profiles. Written answers come in random order. Players are asked not to say their names on the recording. You may use what you learn inside your studio only, and you agree not to try to identify any player.

A summary of what players said across the sessions, with links to the moments in the recordings. Each session's recording and transcript, whether players wanted to keep playing, how many quit early, playtime, ratings, and every written answer, with ranges on each percentage. You can download the report as a PDF, and every session as a CSV.

No. You watch each recording in your browser, next to its transcript. Recordings and transcripts are deleted 90 days after the player uploads them, so watch the ones you need before then.

About a week after the test starts. Players get a 5-day window (7 for a Deep Dive), then we check the last sessions.

If fewer players finish than you booked, you get the report with everyone who did and we refund the unfilled share to your card.

Each player agrees to keep the test confidential before they see a key or demo link, and each Playtest key goes to one player and is logged, so a leak can be traced. We can't prevent every leak. If your game isn't announced, use a hidden Playtest.

See pricing for single tests and the two monthly plans. Tests are covered by the studio terms.