Steam curators asking for keys: real or a reseller?
An email or message from a "Steam curator" asking for a key is not proof of a scam, but it is outside how Valve built the system. Curator Connect sends the game through Steam with no key at all. Check the page first, and offer Curator Connect before you send anything.
Why a key request is a warning
Valve describes Curator Connect as a way to send review copies "directly and immediately through Steam. No need to mess with e-mails or keys" (Steamworks documentation). A curator who works through it never needs your key. One who asks for a key by email, Discord or a form wants something you can resell. Developers have written about it for a while: Scarecrow Studio's December 2024 guide describes key-scam groups with around 20,000 followers, "all of which are likely purchased" (itch.io).
Some real curators and YouTubers do ask for keys. The point is to check before you send, not to refuse everyone.
How common is it
Of the 1,185 Steam curators I track (200 or more followers), 202 (17%) have three or more points of warning signs for key reselling. Among the 718 with 1,000 or more followers it is 186 (26%), and 258 have under 30% of followers rated "high value" by Steam. These are guesses from patterns, not proof about any one page. How each sign works.
Check in five minutes
- Find the page. Search the curator's name in the directory. If it isn't there, it has under 200 followers or isn't a Steam curator page. Ask for the Steam curator link.
- Read the numbers. High-value followers under 30%, 20 posts in one day, or the same games posted on the same days as other pages are each a reason to stop. Every profile shows them with the reasons.
- Read three reviews. Copied store text or one-line praise means nobody played the game.
- Check the address. Match the email to the contact on the curator's Steam page. A free mail address that claims to be a large page is a red flag.
- Reply with Curator Connect. Say you send through Steam only. A real curator will accept it. A reseller will go quiet.
A reply you can paste
Thanks for the interest. I send review copies through Curator Connect in Steamworks only, so I'll send one to your curator page there. If you tell me the exact page name, I'll find it.
Which pages look fine
The curators with the most posts in the last 30 days and no warning signs are Does This Game Use GenAI? (2.6k followers, 60 posts), IndieGems (17k followers, 59 posts), Games under 1GB (652 followers, 56 posts), Rootkit Anti-Cheats (3.6k followers, 53 posts), Games at risk of removal (44k followers, 49 posts), Achievement Scouts: Restricted 2 (1.2k followers, 48 posts). For a genre, each genre page lists the active curators without signs.
Look up a curator before you reply
Search the directory, or find the curators who covered games like yours.
Find curatorsCite this page
Curator Match, "Steam curators asking for keys", data as of Nov 4, 2026. https://curatormatch.com/guide/steam-curators-asking-for-keys
Figures come from a daily read of Steam's public curator pages, and each one states its date and the group it counts. Quote freely with a link to the page you used. The method and its limits are on Method and data.
Keep reading
- How to find Steam curators for your gameStart from comparable games, not follower counts.
- Steam Curator Connect: how it works and where it falls shortLimits, ranking and the questions developers ask.
- Are Steam curators worth it?What the data and developers say about the return.
- High-value followers on Steam curatorsWhat Steam's label means and what share to expect.
- How to spot Steam key resellers posing as curatorsThe signs, with numbers from the crawl.
- Sending Curator Connect keys without feeding resellersHow many, to whom, what to write, when.
- Steam curators by genre54 genres, the most active curators in each, no reseller signs.