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Leaderboards

The Leaderboards subsystem provides access to Steam leaderboards, allowing you to upload scores, download leaderboard entries, and query leaderboard metadata and player rankings.

This subsystem works with leaderboards that are predefined in Steamworks and exposes a structured API suitable for competitive scoring systems, time trials, and ranking-based gameplay features.

Capabilities

  • Find and reference existing Steam leaderboards by name.
  • Upload scores to leaderboards with configurable upload methods.
  • Attach optional score details to leaderboard entries.
  • Download leaderboard entries using global, friends, or around-user queries.
  • Retrieve leaderboard entries for the current user or a specific Steam user.
  • Query leaderboard metadata such as entry count, sort method, display type, and name.

Important Notes

  • Leaderboards must be created and configured in Steamworks before they can be accessed by the game.
  • Score uploads are processed asynchronously and may not be immediately visible in leaderboard queries.
  • Leaderboard data is managed by Steam; the subsystem does not perform any client-side ranking or sorting.
  • The interpretation of score values depends on the leaderboard display type configured in Steamworks.