For Developers
Your legal adult game was removed from Steam or itch.io — or you're looking for a reliable home from day one? That's exactly why we're building Sideload.
Who's behind this
I'm Nico, and I'm building Sideload because in 2025 thousands of legal story games lost their storefronts overnight — and nobody built devs a fair, EU-legal alternative. So I am. If you received a DM from us: that was me personally.
Nico · Founder, Sideload · @Nico_sideload · nico-sideload.bsky.social
10–15 %
commission on net receipts: after VAT (the basis Steam uses too) and after payment fees, which we contractually cap at 5% for you — if our provider charges more, we absorb the difference. You keep 85–90% of those net receipts. The dashboard shows exactly how that plays out on every single sale.
Clear rules
Editorial review with documented criteria. No overnight delistings without explanation. No exclusivity — keep selling your game anywhere else. Everything sells DRM-free: your community keeps its downloads.
EU-legal
At launch: a closed user group with KJM-recognised age verification — your game stands on solid legal ground.
★ Founding cohort
Day-one developers keep the 10% rate permanently — even when the standard rate later sits at 15%. No upfront costs, no exclusivity.
The founding cohort is limited — the first slots are taken and selection is under way.
Your numbers, any time
The developer dashboard
Sales, earnings, refunds and payouts — fully itemised and visible to you at any time. Nothing to request, nothing to wait for, nobody to take on faith. Try it with test data before you decide.
What we accept — and what we never will
✓ Welcome
- Erotic/romance titles for adults (visual novels, dating sims, RPGs …)
- All characters clearly adult and depicted consensually
- Finished games and early access with a realistic roadmap
✗ Never (results in a permanent ban)
- Minors or minor-appearing characters in any sexual context
- Sexualised violence, coercion, incest, real animals
- Content violating German law (§ 4 (1) JMStV / §§ 184 ff. StGB)
Details: Content guidelines
Submit your game
Prototype phase: submission opens a pre-filled email to our curation inbox. This will become an upload portal with a review pipeline.
What happens after you submit
- 01A personal reply within 48 hours — from a human, not a ticket bot.
- 02Editorial review against the public criteria (1–2 weeks).
- 03An answer either way — even a no comes with a reason.
- 04Founding agreement: one page, plain language, no exclusivity.
No email client set up? Write to us directly at submit@sideload.games
Rather talk first?
Join our Discord — the direct line to us and the other founding devs — or just send an informal email. A link to your existing game page is enough to start. Honestly: the server is still small — which means you talk directly to the founder, not a community manager.
Did you get a DM from us?
We only ever write from these accounts:
X: @Nico_sideload · Bluesky: nico-sideload.bsky.social · E-Mail: info@sideload.games / submit@sideload.games · Discord: „Sideload.games Launch“
Anything else is not us. We never ask for money, pre-agreement builds, or login credentials.
Build log
What happened recently — this site is alive.
- 2026-08-11Charter v1.3: payouts on demand at any time, 14-day maturity per sale, automatic monthly run on the 5th
- 2026-08-11Guidelines clarified after developer feedback: “real animals” (adult anthro characters were never meant) and school settings rather than campus stories in general
- 2026-08-07Buyer accounts and checkout built: code-based sign-in, library with DRM-free downloads, refunds
- 2026-08-06sideload.games now runs on our own server — the sales ledger and payout data sit with us, not with a site builder
- 2026-08-02Charter v1.2: payment fees capped at 5% for studios — Sideload absorbs anything above
- 2026-07-31Charter v1.1: self-serve sales dashboard committed, buyer payment methods clarified
- 2026-07-30Curated shelf series, studio pages, fairness charter v1.0 and English guidelines live
- 2026-07-30Founding terms published on the developer page; Discord, X and Bluesky linked
- 2026-07-27Founding conversations started — first studios contacted
- 2026-07-19Community Discord opened (channels for players and devs)
- 2026-07-17sideload.games live — SSL, EN/DE, demo shelf
- 2026-07-16Prototype completed: Arcadia design, age gate, legal pages