We Got 11,000 Steam Wishlists in 6 Weeks! Here’s What Actually Worked!
We launched our Steam page and got 11,000 wishlists in a month and a half. Here’s what we did.
We launched the Steam page with just a trailer. The game is a “friendslop” game, which is very marketable and easy to understand at a glance.
Here’s what we did for marketing:
- Created a post on gamespress.com
- Emailed press outlets such as IGN, VideoGamer, GamesRadar, Kotaku, etc.
- Emailed around 30 influencers who cover indie games on social media
- Posted our own content on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter/X, and Bluesky
Out of all of this, here’s what actually worked:
The post on gamespress.com ended up getting picked up by Japanese press, and the trailer went viral on Japanese Twitter. From there, it spread to English Twitter and ended up getting 5+ million views.
As far as I can tell, none of the press outlets I contacted directly covered the game.
Almost all influencers asked for sponsorship money to cover the game. Rates ranged from around $100 USD to several hundred or even thousands depending on follower count. One influencer did cover the game for free, though.
Our own social media posts went absolutely nowhere. Right now we’re sitting at:
- 2 followers on Twitter/X
- 8 followers on Bluesky
- 10 followers on TikTok
The view counts match those numbers pretty closely.
What I learned from this:
- Use other people’s audiences. It’s much easier to get existing creators or press to share your game than it is to build your own audience from scratch.
- A strong trailer and hook are extremely important. Don’t waste time before showing the coolest part of your game. You’re competing for attention instantly, The first few seconds matter more than anything.
Hopefully, this helps some other indie devs out there.