The Secret to a Successful Launch

And the one thing all indie developers dread…

Marketing. We’ve all seen the memes.

Most indie developers leave marketing to the last minute, or struggle to ever find an audience for their game. This results in a failed launch.. and a kick in the face to all of the work they’ve put into their game.

Truth be told, it’s difficult. And it takes a lot of work. Studios usually hire a full-time marketer just to upload new content constantly. But most indie developers are working by themselves, and don’t have the budget to hire an agency or contractor.

So is there no hope? Will indie developers forever be subjected to launching with little wishlists?

The answer is NO. There is a way to establish an audience and launch successfully. Just look at these recent examples all made by indies and selling 100K+ copies:

All of them are simple and target a specific niche audience.

I’ve been learning some techniques in my quest to market my own game, which reached 1.5K wishlists in a few months.

The first step is to make sure your game is marketable FROM THE START

I made this mistake and have spent weeks changing my game to fit my target audience.

The best marketing tool for your game…. is YOUR GAME! You don’t need to any fancy tricks if your game is good and targets the audience you want!

Find your audience. Search on Reddit, TikTok, Instagram. Find where they hang out and see what sorts of games interest them.

I’m always looking at Steam’s new and popular releases to see what sort of things people are interested in. After some time you start to identify patterns.

After identifying that and starting your game, you should advertise as soon as possible! BUT… not too early! Make sure the art looks sorta like the final product. If someone switches the game’s art style or gameplay entirely, it’s going to look odd to the potential buyer (guilty as charged).

Advertise everywhere. Reddit, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube (long form videos and shorts). Tailor the content to your audience. Run paid ads. It’s a lot of work yes, but it will be worth it.

One of the top wishlisted games on Steam went viral on TikTok.

You’ll want to aim for 10K+ wishlists. Yep, in this market you need to raise those numbers to stand out from the crowd. You may accomplish it with less.. but to get featured on Steam’s Popular Upcoming and New Releases tab on the front page, you’ll need numbers.

Here are some other great resources to help you on your journey. I recommend signing up for howtomarketagame.com newsletter and discord, so much useful information!

Even if your game doesn’t do well, don’t give up. Developers usually find success as they release more games.

And don’t forget to wishlist my game! ;)

Until next time!