🎮 Junk Store 2.0 is Almost Here – Pricing and What to Expect
We’re getting very close to the public release of the new version of Junk Store. This has been in the works for over a year, and we’ve finally reached the point where we can share pricing and give you a look at what’s coming.
We know this won’t satisfy everyone, but we have to be realistic about what’s needed to keep things sustainable — based on everything we’ve learned so far.
A few important clarifications upfront:
- This new version does not share code with the open source version.
- The open source version will remain available for the community, free to use and collaborate on.
- Junk Store does not handle any credentials other than its own. Your platform accounts (Steam, GOG, etc.) are not touched or stored by Junk Store.
💸 Pricing
After a lot of thought (and number crunching), here’s where we’ve landed:
- $40 (USD) for 12 months of updates
- Includes all extension presets (currently GOG, Epic, and Amazon — more to come)
- You keep everything released during your subscription
- Renewals are $40 for another 12 months of updates
- 7-day free trial
- Stripe handles billing — cancel anytime during the trial
We don’t have a firm public release date just yet — but it’s close.
Right now, we’re focused on final polish and making sure everything is ready for early adopters.
Thanks again to everyone who’s been on this journey with us — we’re nearly there.
In the immortal words of Wayne & Garth: Game on.
👥 Early Supporters & Rollout Plan
To thank our existing users and supporters, we’ll begin onboarding them first. Due to hosting and bandwidth costs, we’re rolling out in waves to stay sustainable. Based on past download volumes, an immediate public launch would burn through our budget fast — and we want to do this right.
If you’ve previously purchased or contributed, you’ll be eligible for a discount that reflects your support. This is our way of saying thanks for backing the project early.
We also expect the first couple of weeks to be a bit bumpy — this is all new code, and no software survives first contact with real users. Scaling gradually helps us support everyone properly and fix issues as they come up.
🛠️ What’s New?
This version is fully standalone — no more Decky required.
- Major performance boost
- Amazon support
- Download queue
- Simplified extension generation (no coding needed)
- 1,000 game tab limit (up from 100)
- Built-in dependency installer (no more Proton Tricks)
- Localisation support for games
- Big stability improvements — just 2 breakages since October (neither affected Steam)
- Push L3+R3 to open the UI instantly
- …and more
This is a complete rebuild based on everything we learned from the Decky version. It’s been rock solid in internal use and with testers.
🔜 What’s Coming Next?
If launch goes well, here’s what we plan to add:
- Itch.io support first (and EA, Ubisoft, Battle.net if viable)
- Cloud saves (done right — failure is not an option)
- Game-specific presets
- Better extension creation tools
- Community extension sharing
- Full UI localisation
- Automated updates
- And more as the platform matures
💡 Why We Need to Charge
Over 250,000 people downloaded the free version of Junk Store. While not all will upgrade, we have to plan for the possibility that many will at least try the new version — and trying has a cost.
There are over 5 million Steam Deck users. If even a fraction of them download the installer (which is ~100MB), that’s terabytes of bandwidth. And it doesn’t stop there: each user may make 20–30 server requests per day, depending on usage. Those requests cost money — and at scale, it adds up very fast.
We want every user to get a 7-day free trial — but those trials still incur real backend costs.
And that’s just infrastructure. We’d love to grow the team and build bigger features like cloud saves, community sharing, and automated updates — but developers and testers aren’t free.
Since we can’t predict how many people will pay, we’ve had to base our pricing model on the users who’ve already contributed — meaning their purchases need to cover trials, servers, and support. That’s why the pricing isn’t just a “nice-to-have” — it’s the only way to scale sustainably.
📊 Feature Comparison: Decky vs Paid Version
| Feature | Decky Version | Paid Version |
|---|---|---|
| Epic | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| UMU Fixes | ✅Yes | ✅ Yes |
| GOG | 💰 Paid | ✅ Yes |
| Amazon | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Download queue | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Emulators | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| ROM download support | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| GOG DOS games | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| GOG ScummVM games | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Built-in extension updates | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Built-in help | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Offline artwork cache | ❌ No | ✅ Yes (per extension) |
| Change game language | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Selective DLC install | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Change launcher per game | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Custom script hooks | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Cloud saves | ❌ No | ⚠️ Experimental |
| Access Junk Store | 📥 Decky menu | 🎮 L3+R3 or Ctrl+3 |
| Releases | 🔧 Decky process | 🚀 Direct |
| Performance | 💯 100 games/tab | 🔟🔟🔟 1000 games/tab |
| Tinkering | 🔒 Limited | 🔧 Extensive |
| Open extensibility | 🧩 All code | 🪄 Generator + code |
| Game dependency install | 🛠️ Manual 🧪 Proton Tricks | ⚙️ Built-in 🛠️ Manual 🧪 Proton Tricks |
| Custom extensions | 👨💻 Manual coding | 🧙 Wizard-supported |
| Customise extensions | 💻 Code heavy | 🧠 Generated + hooks |